Training

Introduction
Biological hazards pose a risk not only to staff who handle them, but others within the workplace, friends and family, and to the wider population. This course is an introduction to the principles of safe handling of biological hazards, with a focus on the use of containment facilities and equipment.

The Legislation
The key piece of legislation relevant to handling biological hazards is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations. These regulations form the basis for safe handling of biohazardous materials, provide detail on how to perform suitable and sufficient risk assessments, and place obligations on employers to provide information, instruction and training to anybody who may be exposed to a biologically hazardous substance.

Content
This course is designed to give delegates some knowledge of the requirements to contain biological hazards. This is broken down into sections covering the why, what, and where of containment, as well as some specific examples of how containment works.

Aims/Objectives
By the end of this course learners will:
• Understand the legislative requirements when handling biohazardous materials
• Recognise the consequences of not containing biologically hazardous materials
• Have experience of classifying unknown infectious agents
• Have a clear grasp on the concept of control at source
• Understand the importance of health surveillance for employees who work with hazardous substances
• Gained detailed knowledge on key methods to support primary containment

Who Should Attend
This course is suitable all people who work directly with biologically hazardous materials, particularly those working at Containment Level 2 or above. Biologically hazardous materials could be microorganisms, human or animal blood and blood-derived products, mammalian cell cultures, and other potentially infectious biological materials.

Duration/Additional Info
The course is booked for 1 working day. Breaks are provided throughout the day.