Continued successful operation of open‐fronted microbiological safety cabinets in a force‐ventilated laboratory

Abstract

The considerable refinements necessary to enable Class I and II microbiological safety cabinets to operate in a force-ventilated laboratory and to meet appropriate safety criteria have been reported previously. The continued successful operation of such cabinets without a deterioration of operator protection is described. The performance of two Class II units, one meeting and one failing the current British Standard applied to four head KI-discus testing, is compared and discussed. In addition, some further potential difficulties within the environment, which could compromise cabinet containment, are highlighted.

Performance of open‐fronted microbiological safety cabinets: the value of operator protection tests during routine servicing

“…This paper extends previous reports and concerns ( Clark et al . 1990 ; Osborne & Durkin 1991) and outlines the application of OPTs over a number of years within the routine servicing of OFMSCs employed in a force‐ventilated containment level 3 laboratory. It illustrates a need for continuous monitoring to ensure that cabinets regularly return the desired level of Operator Protection (OP) and compares the performance of class I and II units in standard, and to a limited extent, ‘in‐use’ tests.…”