The safety of students, staff and public are of high importance at UEA. As such, the university has its own health and safety policies and biosafety rules that must be followed. Risk assessments and COSHH forms are completed to cover any laboratory work conducted. Safety training is also compulsory to ensure a high standard throughout the university. The university has its own biosafety committee with different safety responsibilities divided between different departments and staff. Dr Andrew Hemmings is the BIO Safety Officer at UEA and Dr Mark Coleman is the GM Biological Safety Officer.

Laboratory Safety

Risk assessments and COSHH forms were carried out to cover all work conducted within the laboratory. Safety training was also provided by the School of Biological Sciences and the UK Health and Safety Legislation was followed. Please click on GMOs and the Law and The SACGM Compendium to be taken to the respective page. At the beginning of the laboratory work, we received safety training from advisors and laboratory technicians as to what to do in emergencies and the disposal of contaminated equipment and specific chemicals. Details on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and their use were also provided.

Good laboratory practices were undertaken throughout all experiments, these included: washing hands thoroughly before leaving the laboratory, no use of mobile phones, no over-carrying of equipment, autoclaving of contaminated waste, correct use of fume-cupboards and no eating or drinking within or near the lab.

Instructional videos for the safe and correct use of equipment and techniques can be found at UEAs School of Biological Sciences Youtube channel

Public Safety

We also took into account of the safety of colleagues and the public. For this reason, only authorised personnel were permitted within the laboratory with proper supervision. Precautions were taken to ensure that all contaminated material was disposed of in the correct manner either by disinfectant or placed in bags and autoclaved at high temperature and pressure. Lab coats were removed and hands were washed thoroughly before leaving the lab and entering public spaces.

Environmental Safety

There is a low risk of any bacteria being released into the environment as all organisms were stored securely within the lab. All windows were closed to further reduce risks and everyday equipment is disinfected. To prevent the risk of Agrobacterium tumafaciens transfer to the environment after infiltration into Nicotiana benthamiana, all plants were autoclaved and/or incinerated.