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# Biohazard and Laboratory Biosafety ## What are biological hazards or biohazards? Biohazards include biological agents and toxins infectious to humans, animals, wildlife, or plants such as parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi, prions; and biologically-active materials such as toxins, allergens, an...

# Biohazard and Laboratory Biosafety ## What are biological hazards or biohazards? Biohazards include biological agents and toxins infectious to humans, animals, wildlife, or plants such as parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi, prions; and biologically-active materials such as toxins, allergens, and venoms. In addition to causing disease in living organisms, biohazards can cause significant damage to the environment. ## People, animals, and the environment are protected from biohazards in the laboratory... People, animals, and the environment are protected from biohazards in the laboratory through the use of specific practices, training for laboratory staff, safety equipment, and specially designed buildings. The discipline which ensures that people, animals, and the environment are protected from biohazards in the laboratory is called laboratory biosafety. ## What is biosafety? Biosafety is a framework that describes the use of specific practices, training, safety equipment, and specially designed buildings to protect the worker, community, and environment from an accidental exposure or unintentional release of infectious agents and toxins. A biosafety program implements actions to identify biological hazards, to evaluate the level of health-related risks from the biological hazard presents to humans, agriculture (such as livestock and crops), wildlife, and the environment, and to identify ways to reduce the health-related risks associated with the biological hazard. ## Biosafety Levels (BSLs) "Biosafety Levels" (BSLs) are designations applied to projects or activities conducted in laboratories in ascending order of containment based on the severity of the health-related risk associated with the work being conducted. In the United States, the designations BSL-1, BSL-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4 describe the minimum safe work practices, specially designed buildings, and safety equipment required to conduct work on infectious agents, toxins, and other biological hazards. You can refer to the video for more information on biosafety levels [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyNj56g5rHY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyNj56g5rHY).