Biology Safety

Biological Safety Program

UT Tyler takes great pride in keeping students, faculty and staff safe from risks posed by biological organisms and research.  Biology laboratories are unique in that they are broad in scope.  They cover the studying of large animals to microscopic organisms utilizing chemicals and special equipment.  This environment has potential hazards if personnel are not properly trained or knowledgeable in their surroundings.  Small accidents can lead to big consequences mainly because of the small size of materials.  EH&S has created a Biological Safety Program to guide students and keep them safe inside biology laboratories on UT Tyler campuses.  The Biological Safety Program is required to be followed on all UT Tyler owned or operated facilities.  Report any unsafe conditions to EH&S or police immediately.

Biological Safety Program
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The Biological Safety Program is an addendum to the Laboratory Safety Policy referenced in the UT Tyler Handbook of Operating Procedures.  This program outlines the basics of Biological Safety.  This program is not all inclusive and requires close work with instructors and principle investigators to address specific safety concerns within individual labs.  The Biological Safety Program can be found here: Biosafety Program.  Contact EH&S if this form is not available for your experiments.

 

Biological Agent Reference Sheet (BARS)
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BARS are useful tools to identify and mitigate hazards while working with biological agents such as bacteria or viruses. Those reference sheets can be found here:

• UT Tyler BARS (reviewed coming soon)

Other websites with BARS not provided here can be found here:

• Canada Pathogen Safety Data Sheets
• Cornell University BARS

 

BioRaft
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BioRaft - is an organizational tool for individual labs.  Manage lab members, protocols, as well as hazards associated with individual laboratories.  BioRaft is also an excellent place to get hazard information found in your individual lab as well as links to help mitigate risk of those hazards.  Follow the link to learn more.  Contact EH&S if you cannot access BioRaft.

 

Lab Safety Contact Information
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Please forward any questions to the Biological Safety Officer at: safety@uttyler.edu or 903.566.7011