Biosafety

We are dedicated to helping protect and educate faculty, staff and students who work with bio-hazardous materials in the teaching and research environments. The UVic biosafety program outlines the requirements at UVic for working with bio-hazardous materials.

The biosafety program is based on:

• the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC) Canadian Biosafety Standards (CBS)
• the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) Containment Standards
• and is also in compliance with the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act.

The UVic biosafety manual provides an overview of the biosafety program. It also provides the  requirements for working with biohazards on campus.

For more information and/or to request a copy of the biosafety manual, please contact Jason Serpa, biosafety officer or 250-721-8088.

Registration

Principal Investigators (PIs) must register to obtain a valid biosafety certificate before working with any bio-hazardous material. This registration is reviewed and approved by the Biosafety Committee.

• To register for the use of bio-hazardous materials, please contact Jason Serpa, biosafety officer.
• If you will be working with human material or risk group level 2 bio-hazardous material you must also complete an exposure control plan.
• If you want to make changes to your registration, please contact the biosafety officer before doing so.
• Biosafety registrations must be updated at least annually using the online database

Click to access or update your biological material registration:

Pathogen movement

 In order to import, export, transfer or receive any bio-hazardous material you need to:

• have a valid UVic biosafety registration
• contact the biosafety officer for approval

Human pathogen movement requires a valid PHAC Pathogen and Toxin licence and a bio-hazardous material transfer form. 

Animal products, by-product, plant pests, soil or aquatic animal pathogen movement also requires a bio-hazardous material transfer form and may require a CFIA compliance letter and/or import permit. All applications for licences, permits, registrations and certificates to the CFIA are submitted by the biosafety officer via the myCFIA portal. Please contact the biosafety officer for assistance.

Equipment

OHSE maintains records of all biosafety cabinets (BSCs) and laminar flow hoods (LFHs) on campus. We also coordinate the annual certification of these cabinets. The Public Health Agency of Canada requires that biosafety cabinets are certified annually and it is recommended that LFHs be certified every two years.

Please refer to the biosafety operating procedures for information on best practices with your equipment.

If your cabinet requires certification, please contact Jason Serpa, biosafety officer.  

Biosafety committee

The University of Victoria Biosafety Committee is a regulatory committee, reporting to the Vice-President Finance and Operations; following the terms of reference.

The committee is responsible for reviewing and approving all research and teaching procedures using microorganisms,recombinant DNA, and human blood, tissues and fluids. The committee also consults on and reviews all matters pertaining to biosafety and biosafety facilities, and requires that all work with biohazards must be conducted according to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Canadian Biosafety Standards and Guidelines and the UVic Biosafety Practices.