New Zealand Gazette – 1998 – No. 101

Page 2428

✨ Laboratory Safety Procedures



2428 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE No. 101

SCHEDULE 3: SPECIFICATIONS AND OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR CATEGORY 0 (C0) LABORATORY CONTAINMENT

C0 containment does not involve any special laboratory design, but does require the investigator to conform to the standard of practice expected in a microbiological laboratory handling infectious organisms and detailed in the booklet Laboratory Safety for General and Microbiological Laboratories (Occupational and Health Service, Department of Labour).

Specific operating procedures governing C0 containment are:

  • Cultures and equipment containing or having been contaminated with living organisms should be disinfected, or preferably sterilised by autoclaving before disposal or being washed. (In general, a suitable chemical disinfectant for glassware is hypochlorite solution containing at least 5,000 part per million of available chlorine. Household or laundry bleach diluted 1:8 should be satisfactory. The disinfectant should be allowed to act for at least 30 minutes and all dilutions should be made up daily). The effectiveness of the disinfectant for the particular organisms should be tested and the concentrations adjusted if necessary;

  • Work benches and surfaces should be decontaminated daily by swabbing with disinfectant solution;

  • The use of mouth pipettes is forbidden;

  • The use of hypodermic syringes in the laboratory is not encouraged unless absolutely necessary (e.g. for the inoculation of animals);

  • All waterbaths in the laboratory should contain an effective disinfectant;

  • Eating, drinking, smoking, the application of cosmetics and the storage of food or drink are prohibited in the laboratory. Suitable protective clothing and gloves, where appropriate, should always be worn in the laboratory and removed before leaving. Hands should be washed with soap and warm water before leaving the laboratory or whenever contaminated with biological material.



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🏥 Specifications and Operating Procedures for Category 0 (C0) Laboratory Containment (continued from previous page)

🏥 Health & Social Welfare
Laboratory Safety, Microbiological Laboratories, Containment Procedures, Disinfection, Sterilization