Laboratory biosecurity guidance

Overview

The WHO laboratory biosecurity guidance follows and complements the revision of the Laboratory biosafety manual, fourth edition and provides principles and measures to prevent lapses and incidents throughout the whole value chain of handling high-consequence biological material, technology and information. The document shares global best practice and covers the biosecurity part of the biological risk management lifecycle, starting from collection, transportation, storage and experiment, and in specific context such as every type of biomedical laboratory, research activities, repository and biobank. It also provides key considerations and best practices for institutional, national and international levels, including regulatory oversight. Key elements of the guidance are:

• Consequence-driven biosecurity risk assessment
• Emerging technologies and potential threats (Cybersecurity, information security; molecular techniques, artificial intelligence)
• International and national legislation/regulation
  • two-tier system of the national body and the institutions using a hybrid approach with risk-based elements of list-based high-consequence material
• Strengthening the role and responsibility of institutional biosafety committees
• Ultimate situations – war, civil unrest, devastating natural disasters