INTERMEDIATE LEVEL COURSES
October 24-26, 2025
Friday, October 24, 2025, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
4. Intersection of Biological Safety and the Clinical Environment
Clinical environments present unique challenges, including fast-paced patient care, exposure to unkown biological agents, and high-risk procdures like autopsies and HAZMAT responses. These settings are regulated by accreditation bodies such as the Joint Commission (TJC), College of American Pathologists (CAP), and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) for accreditation of their spaces, personnel, work practices, and most importantly safety. At large academic teaching hospitals, the Biological Safety Office often collaboratores with groups like Infection Prevention, Hospital Epidemiology, Fire and Life Safety, Engineering and Operations, Clinical Engineering, and Emergency Response to ensure compliance. These challenges require a holistic, risk-assessment based, coordinated response and increasingly the biosafety professional is called upon to play a key role in the clinical environment. This course will provide an overview of various clinical environments—inpatient units, primary and specialty care clinics, and clinical laboratories, including BSL-3—highlighting their specific risks and strategies for effective collaboration with other safety groups to mitigate the risks. This course combines interactive case studies and real-life scenarios to engage adult learners in group exercises focused on clinical risk assessment. Attendees will practice identifying and mitigating risks specific to various clinical environments. Through these exercises, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the collaborative roles of safety groups and develop the skills needed to lead clinical teams toward a state of readiness and accreditation compliance.
Objectives:
- Describe the various clinical environments and how they differ from a traditional research environment
- Develop a working knowledge of collaborate with the various safety groups within the clinical environment
- Perform risk assessments using case studies to determine appropriate biosafety actions in clinical environments
Suggested Background: Fundamentals of Biosafety, Principles and Practices of Biosafety® (PPB), Risk Assessment
Target Audience: All Safety Professionals, All Biosafety Professionals
Audience Level: Intermediate
COURSE FACULTY
CONTACT HOURS
This course has been approved for 1.0 CM points toward RBP/CBSP recertification. ABSA International is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program. This course is approved for 7.5 P.A.C.E.® contact hours.
Saturday, October 25, 2025, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
8. Emergency Planning for Biological Incidents in High-Containment Labs
Planning for emergencies in biocontainment labs is challenging and requires a specialized approach due to the presence of high-consequence pathogens and complex response needs. This course is designed for emergency managers, laboratory personnel, and response teams focusing on preparedness for biological incidents at your facility. Attendees will explore the regulatory requirements outlined in U.S. federal compliance with the Federal Select Agent Program and OSHA guidelines for developing and implementing a comprehensive incident response plan. An efficient and responsive emergency management program closely integrates with biosafety and biosecurity professionals, as well as local emergency management agencies, health departments, and first responders/receivers, to ensure an effective collaborative response. Through hands-on training, attendees will gain practical skills in incident response planning for biocontainment laboratories. Using interactive activities and case studies, participants will learn to conduct risk assessments, develop and implement comprehensive incident response plans, and coordinate effectively with local emergency management agencies. The course emphasizes a systematic planning process—guided by frameworks like FEMA’s 6-step methodology—to help attendees create tailored, compliant, and proactive emergency response strategies. This training enhances both facility preparedness and community safety in the face of biological incidents.
Objectives:
- Identify and prioritize biological risks and hazards in high-containment environments
- Apply structured emergency planning principles to support laboratory leadership decision-making
- Coordinate response efforts with internal stakeholders and external support agencies
Suggested Background: Recommend completion of the web-based course FEMA Independent Study Course IS-230 – Fundamentals of Emergency Management (for familiarization; exam not required)
Target Audience: All Safety Professionals, All Biosafety Professionals, Emergency Management and Health Preparedness Professionals
Audience Level: Intermediate
COURSE FACULTY
CONTACT HOURS
This course has been approved for 1.0 CM points toward RBP/CBSP recertification. ABSA International is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program. This course is approved for 7.5 P.A.C.E.® contact hours.
Sunday, October 26, 2025, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
13. A Scenario-Based Introduction to Agricultural Biorisk Management
This course will review general concepts and considerations for assessing and managing risks encountered in research programs that involve animals, plants, pathogens, pests, facilities, equipment, and work practices relevant to agriculture. The focus will be on hazard identification, risk assessment (qualitative and quantitative), and the strategic use of mitigation practices designed to minimize risks in a wide range of agricultural research applications. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice these skills, using real-world scenarios that demonstrate some of the unique challenges and hazards routinely encountered in an agricultural environment. Exercises will be highly interactive and guide attendees through the entire biorisk management process. Emphasis will be given to key factors that influence selecting effective biocontainment and biosecurity measures; ensuring worker safety; protecting local and regionally-important agricultural commodities (livestock, poultry, crops); preserving the environment (plants, wildlife, water systems); and maintaining public health.
Objectives:
- Review hazard identification and risk assessment techniques appropriate for an agricultural research environment
- Identify practical control strategies to successfully manage hazards and risks relevant to agriculture
- Restate the need for effective biosecurity when working with high-consequence agricultural pathogens and pests
Suggested Background: BSL-3 Operations and Management, Fundamentals of Biosafety, Principles and Practices of Biosafety® (PPB), Risk Assessment
Target Audience: All Safety Professionals, Animal Caretakers, Experienced Biosafety Professionals
Audience Level: Intermediate
COURSE FACULTY
CONTACT HOURS
This course has been approved for 1.0 CM points toward RBP/CBSP recertification. ABSA International is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program. This course is approved for 7.5 P.A.C.E.® contact hours.
Sunday, October 26, 2025, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
14. Facility Commissioning and Recommissioning for the BSL-3 Laboratory
The biosafety professional can assist with the start-up or maintenance of laboratory operations in support of their biosafety programs by understanding the commissioning and recommissioning processes. Laboratory commissioning, identified in containment guidance documents, is a quality assurance process for the effective functioning of biocontainment laboratories. The biosafety officer and other decision makers benefit by having a basic understanding of the commissioning and recommissioning processes and resulting documentation. This course will review the phases of the new facility commissioning process and similar process for recommissioning. This knowledge base allows the biosafety professional to recognize how commissioning assists in providing and documenting a properly operating facility. A review of the secondary containment features of the BSL-3 laboratory will be disucssed and note specific issues typically observed. There will be a focus on two issues, the reversal of directional airflow and sealing of surfaces and penetrations. Attendees will consider methods to identify the issues and present some specific mitigations of these issues; can actively participate in the commissioning/recommissioning processes and understand the methodology, the tools, results, and their interpretation; will know their facility operates correctly, its limitations, and the risk when it does not. This knowledge allows the biosafety professional to check or back check the containment spaces’ performance and use this knowledge to perform daily inspections for maintenance or replacement and control risk to the lowest level. The biosafety professional can identify required features in a new laboratory or review an existing lab with a better understanding of typical issues to assure safe reliable operations.
Objectives:
- Develop an understanding of the overall commissioning and recommissioning processes for containment labs
- Articulate the engineering controls required and effectively participate in the processes
- Identify typical issues observed during commissioning/recommissioning of the laboratory secondary containment barriers and the options for practical solutions to those issues
- Demonstrate a knowledge base and provide documentation to better perform daily inspections to reduce risk for safe and reliable laboratory operations
Suggested Background: None
Target Audience: All Safety Professionals, Laboratory Workers, Operations and Maintenance Personnel
Audience Level: Intermediate
COURSE FACULTY
CONTACT HOURS
This course has been approved for 1.0 CM points toward RBP/CBSP recertification. ABSA International is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program. This course is approved for 7.5 P.A.C.E.® contact hours.
Sunday, October 26, 2025, 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
17. Lessons Learned to Improve Biosafety
Preventing laboratory-acquired infections (LAIs) is a challenge for laboratory managers and biosafety professionals, especially when dealing with an emerging pathogen. It is extremely important to quickly determine if there has been an exposure, how many may have been exposed, what steps need to happen next, including any prophylaxis, root cause analysis, gaps in the biosafety plan, and additional mitigation measures that need to be implemented. This interactive course will examine published papers from the ABSA LAI Database on laboratory acquired infections and exposures to determine what we can learn to prevent future exposures. Attendees will thoroughly examine the literature on the history of lab-acquired infections, review specific published articles, utilize the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) ‘Laboratory Exposure Assessment and Symptom Monitoring Guide’ (exposure assessment tool) to assess exposures, analyze data to identify root causes of exposures, discuss identified gaps, and establish additional steps required to mitigate risks. Attendees will be equipped with the skills to assess and mitigate exposure risks using the APHL Exposure Assessment Tool. Attendees will engage in scenario-based group exercises, applying a structured process to evaluate potential exposures, conduct root cause analyses, identify procedural gaps, and develop effective mitigation strategies. Through hands-on practice and guided instruction, attendees will also learn to incorporate published data on laboratory-acquired infections (LAIs) to enhance biosafety protocols. Special emphasis will be placed on applying these tools to safely manage risks associated with emerging pathogens.
Objectives:
- Describe how the ABSA LAI database can be used for biosafety training and determining how to safely work with emerging pathogens
- Utilize the APHL exposure assessment tool to assess real-life laboratory incidents for potential exposures and to help guide prophylaxis if indicated
- Analyze actual laboratory incidents to determine the root cause and what steps are necessary to mitigate future incidents
Suggested Background: Fundamentals of Biosafety, Risk Assessment
Target Audience: All Safety Professionals, Laboratory Workers
Audience Level: Intermediate
COURSE FACULTY
CONTACT HOURS
This course has been approved for 0.5 CM points toward RBP/CBSP recertification. ABSA International is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program. This course is approved for 3.5 P.A.C.E.® contact hours.