Biosafety Cabinets: Tips for Best Practices

Biosafety Cabinets: Tips for Best Practices

The class of BSC can be further characterised by whether air is recirculated or ducted out of the building. The option that you choose will depend on the severity of risk to the environment and laboratory personnel from the contaminated air according to the BSL. It is important to remember that HEPA filters only extract particles, they do not remove vapours or gases, so these will not be filtered out of the air.

Air flow monitoring

It is beneficial to select a BSC that alerts you if the airflow falls below acceptable levels.

Certifications and sizing

Ensure that the BSC meets relevant international standards and certifications, such as NSF/ANSI 49 in the US or EN 12469 in Europe.

Sizing

As with any piece of laboratory equipment, the size of a BSC should be an important consideration to ensure that you strike the right balance between providing sufficient working space and optimising valuable lab space. BSCs can vary massively in size, from a couple of metres for multiple users to smaller single-user designs. Manufacturers may even build bespoke cabinets, depending on quantity, sizing requirements and capabilities.