The biosafety cabinet malaysia is a closed-off, fully-ventilated laboratory workspace to be used when working with a polluted or potentially polluted infectious agent safely without being contaminated by it. Each biosafety cabinet comes with an air exhaust that is approved as HEPA-filtered bringing the contaminated and harmful air out of the cabinet and protecting the user. Biosafety cabinet is different from fume hoods as fume hoods are not as safe as biosafety cabinet when handling contaminated pathogen. On top of that, there are three class of biosafety cabinet that relates to the level of biosafety needed.
Class One
Class one biosafety cabinet is used when handling low to moderate-risk biological agents be it chemicals or powders substances. They provide personal and environmental protection. The air that enters the biosafety cabinet through the front will pass a built-in HEPA-filtered exhaust fan that will give the protection of its surroundings and the operator from being contaminated. This class of biosafety cabinets cannot be used when handling materials that are fragile to airborne contamination. For that type of material, biosafety cabinet class two is more appropriate.
Class Two
Class two biosafety cabinet protects the personnel, the environment and the product itself from protection. Class two biosafety cabinet has a circulation of airflow where the air that goes through it front will stay underneath the workspace and then goes back up again through the attached plenum. This way of airflow is designed to protect the material from being contaminated as well. The cabinet also comes with an additional HEPA filter to prevent any possible cross-contamination between the inside and outside air. It is most suitable used when handling category three pathogens such as virus manipulations.
Class Three
Class three biosafety cabinets are the only cabinet that provides a physical barrier that separated the user and the material they worked on. It comes with a non-opening, completely sealed front window and is also referred to as a glovebox. The cabinet will have rubber gloves attached to the front gas-tightly for the user to conduct their work. Inserting or removal of the substances will be done through an airlock transfer located at the side of the cabinet to make sure everything is protected from contamination. This class of cabinets is designed for high-risk bio-agents such as Ebola and Lassa virus.
User Biosafety Training
Every user of the biosafety cabinet needs to attend training in handling these kinds of substances and the correct way to use the biosafety cabinet. In the training, they will be explaining the potential risk that can happen if fail to use the cabinet correctly and the steps to take if contamination happens while working. This is important to save all lives inside and outside the laboratory.
The training will also talk about the safety principles that all scientists should know before handling contaminated substances. This training should undergo inside the exact laboratory where you will be working so that you will be familiar with all the tools and reduce the contamination risk.