How to choose the right Biosafety cabinet

Biological safety cabinet is a basic engineering control device that protects persional, samples and the environment against biological hazards. The airflow of a biological safety cabinet includes a barrier that prevents the accidental release of biological hazards from the work area of the cabinet. It also has downflow that helps remove contaminants from the work area, providing a sterile area for samples.

Exposure to these biological hazards must be carefully controlled to reduce the risk of harmful or lethal effects. Having the correct biosafety cabinet specifications and ensuring it is installed properly is important, as this type of machinery protects personnel as well as the laboratory environment from contamination.

Viruses, bacteria, body fluids and other materials can all be carefully controlled using biological safety cabinets. When used carefully, they can prevent cross-contamination to ensure your sensitive processes run smoothly.

Whether you are replacing an old biological safety cabinet in your laboratory or purchasing a biological safety cabinet for the first time, it is important that you choose the right type of biological safety cabinet.

1. Choose the right class of biosafety cabinet.

Class I Biological safety cabinet

Class I biological safety cabinets protect the personal, environment and do not protect the sample

Class II biological safety cabinet

Class II biological safety cabinets protect personal samples, and the laboratory environment. Class II biological safety cabinets are divided into types A1, A2, B1, B2 and C1

The most commonly used Class II biological safety cabinets are types A2 and B2.

Class III biological safety cabinet

Class III biological safety cabinets are used with the highest infectious risk group level 4. Provides the maximum level of protection for the personal and the laboratory environment.

2. Choose the right size to use

You need to make sure to buy a biological safety cabinet with a size appropriate to the needs and space of your current laboratory, and especially the biological safety cabinet is a block, so you must consider transporting it into the laboratory on how to get in safely, corner and door sizes.

Currently common sizes are 700mm, 900mm, 1200mm, 1500mm and 1800mm.

3. Choose a reputable and professional manufacturer

Choosing a reputable and professional manufacturer is very important, They have enough research departments, production technology machinery or do they just outsource all the processing without the expertise, experience. A manufacture don’t know biological safety cabinets and this is very dangerous because the Biosafety cabinets is very important. As long as the product fails,  endanger ourselves and the whole  laboratory environment.

We evaluate the manufacturer’s capacity through whether they have a direct factory, a research and development department, the factory’s advanced production technology, automation and a QC system that meets the standards in the world as EN 12469 and NSF 49.

4. Choose a third party to testing the performance of the biological safety cabinet

Currently, Vietnam has many organizations testing and certifying biological safety cabinets. Choosing the right biological safety cabinet certification organization requires us to check to see if that organization recognizes ISO. 17025 and ILAC-MRA and which criteria are accepted. And are those indicators within the mandatory standards of EN 12469 or NSF 49?

Currently in the world there are many testing standards for biological safety cabinet performance such as EN 12469 and NSF 49. In addition, each country will often have its own standards, but the standards are commonly used. and strict and updated annually is NSF 49.

Therefore, choosing a biological safety cabinet suitable for the intended is very important. We can only summarize the above issues as the most necessary, in addition, there are many other criteria but not necessary.

 

Referent the biosafety Cabinet