The purpose of this University of Wisconsin–Madison Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) policy is to ensure that all personnel working with biohazardous materials and/or recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid have satisfactorily completed compulsory biosafety training.
All personnel listed on a biosafety protocol must take and pass specific biosafety training modules. The training will be presented by the Office of Biological Safety (OBS) in a format that is accessible to trainees. Currently, the required trainings are presented as one course titled “Biosafety Required Training”, which is offered online through UW–Madison at Learn@UW.
Personnel who are listed as “Administrator (does not perform lab work)” will be exempted from this training requirement. Personnel who are listed on protocols containing only human blood, blood components, or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) that require a Bloodborne Pathogen (BBP) Exposure Plan may be granted an exemption from the course “Biosafety Required Training” on a case-by-case basis. An example of a situation when an exemption would be considered is the collection of human samples to be sent out for analysis without prior processing. An exemption from the “Biosafety Required Training” does not exempt personnel from annual training required by the Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Program.
Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for verifying that all current personnel are listed on the biosafety protocol and new members are added as soon as possible. All personnel listed in the biosafety protocol must complete training prior to beginning research in the laboratory. For information on how to obtain training records, please see the OBS training website www.ehs.wisc.edu/biosafetytraining.htm and click on the “Records” tab.
Active biosafety protocols may be suspended and new/renewal/amendment applications may not be processed, or may not be approved, if the PI and all listed personnel have not satisfied all training requirements.
To enhance the safety knowledge of personnel, the UW–Madison IBC requires that the “Biosafety Required Training” be retaken every five years by all personnel listed on a biosafety protocol.
The required training course topics will include, but are not limited to, the following information:
Principal Investigators are responsible for verifying that all laboratory personnel listed on their biosafety protocols have completed the training modules as required by the UW–Madison IBC under this policy, and for keeping training records for laboratory personnel.
01-04-2017, 11-07-2018