Safety - The Regional Biocontainment Laboratory

The University of Missouri-Columbia will own and operate the facility. Only trained, security authorized and screened personnel will be allowed access to the lab.

Clearance for all staff in the building will be determined by MU, consistent with institutional and government-mandated regulations and standards. For example, all employees working with certain biological agents will have to complete a federal background check and be compliant with all aspects of the Patriot Act.

Because of the select agents involved, a BSL-3 facility is one of the most cautiously designed and constructed types of buildings in the world. The BSL-3 facility will be a self-contained unit. It will have its own air supplies, filters, power supplies, decontamination and waste disposal systems. All critical systems will be built with redundancy so that back-up units are ready for use in the event that primary units fail to operate. For example, the air that comes out of the building will be filtered through high efficiency particle filters and the air from the entire building will undergo additional high-level filtration. In effect, the air that leaves the building is cleaner than the air that enters the building.

The facility will be constructed within a secured perimeter in accordance with federal standards. In addition, MU has retained experts to identify areas of concern and assist with design that reduces and/or eliminates risk. Creating a secure perimeter and structure, assigning trained staff, and installing sophisticated security access and state-of-the-art audit systems are the cornerstones of the plans to keep the building safe.

Transportation of infectious materials is governed by strict national and international rules including guidelines from the Department of Transportation and the International Air Transport Authority. All biological samples that are potentially infectious are packed, shipped and transported by authorized individuals. MU officials are notified in advance when a shipment is expected. Assigned security authorized and trained personnel are given a schedule of arrival for incoming shipments and are prepared to receive them; transportation policies can be viewed at http://bmbl.od.nih.gov/appendc.htm.