ABSANZ Newsletter March 2021

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Tuesday I had the great pleasure of attending the first ABSANZ trade and networking day of the year at the Atherton factory. Many of you will have an Atherton Autoclave in your facility what you probably don’t know is that the entire autoclave is constructed in Melbourne in the Atherton factory. Sheets of flat steel, coils of cables, bags of insulation and crates with pumps and motors come in and a fully formed autoclave leaves the factory. With a team of 130 comprising, apprentices, boiler makers, electricians, welders, fabricators, engineers, product development, service techs, accounts and admin all working to create an amazing piece of equipment that most of us will use on a regular basis. Click here to view images shared by Atherton.

To the team at Atherton thank you for a wonderful session, for taking the time to show us through your factory and for your hospitality

To our members as you will have seen in the events calendar, we are trying to get networking and training events up and running around all the states and territories in Australia and New Zealand as a way to provide opportunities to learn and network for our members. To our wonderful sponsors, suppliers and exhibitors if you would like to host a learning and networking event for ABSANZ please get in touch with the office.

Stay well,

Stephen Coulter

ABSANZ LATEST NEWS

Member Development Committee

Kaya, hello, from Whadjuk Country in WA. I am Dr Bernadette Bradley, the Chair of your Membership Development Committee (MDC). I hereby invite you to join me in the MDC, because I think you would enjoy it and I know you would be able to help people. My own experience of working in the biosafety and biosecurity sector as an ABSANZ member drives me to make sure that all the people who work in this sector are offered the opportunity to join ABSANZ and receive the training and support that only we can offer them. I want everyone to be confident that they are promoting best practice by being well educated through our training courses and informed through our newsletter. I want everyone to develop collegiate friendships that help to mitigate the isolation of doing these kinds of jobs and allow them to feel at home in the biosafety and biosecurity community. With the new membership categories that we have added and will continue to add, there will be a membership category tailored for every need.

That is why I am leading a recruitment initiative this year, to make sure that no one who could benefit from being a member is left behind. If you want to help us to reach everyone in our sector, we in the MDC could really use your help, so please feel free to contact ABSANZ to offer it.

ABSANZ Member Discussion Forum

We encourage ABSANZ members to support and share your knowledge, ideas and resources. This Member-Only discussion forum is to facilitate the connection and interaction of Australasia’s Biosafety and Biosecurity community.

Know someone who should consider an ABSANZ membership? We would be pleased if you would forward this eNewsletter to them and encourage them to join!

HOT TOPIC: RATS

Trigger alert - RATS!

Not a topic that everyone is comfortable with (except our eldest who has two pet rats), but very valid considering that we are entering the rodent busy season.

A quite unforeseen consequence of the SARS-CoV 2 pandemic has been a noticeable rise in the sightings and activity of rats in many urban areas. Experts believe that this is due to the decrease in traditional food sources during shutdowns causing rats to change feeding habits and becoming emboldened, even desperate, to find alternative food sources. In other words, they are roaming in search of more lucrative hunting grounds. Unfortunately, rats will gnaw on just about anything due to the fact that their incisors never stop growing. Quite amazingly nothing is out of bounds, including: wood, plastic, metal, brick, cement and concrete blocks. This, accompanied with the well documented evidence that rats have the capability to spread disease, spells potential trouble for biocontainment and quarantine facilities.

In accordance with Department of Agriculture Water and Environment (DAWE) Approved Arrangements, an effective pest control system must be in place. This is to ensure that facilities are managed in a way that effectively isolates goods subject to biosecurity control from environments in which pest and disease are likely to become established. To be fully effective, the pest control plan must consider all operations of adjacent facilities – vitally important if near food outlets or residential areas.

Additionally, being mindful of DAWE audit requirements, all quarantine approved premises must maintain a document outlining pest inspection frequency and dates, bait location maps and any other pest control measures.

Is your facility compliant?

All the best - Sean Lansley.

UPCOMING EVENTS

ABSANZ Summit 2020 is available on-demand

Available on-demand until - 31st March 2021

Time - Full 3-day program

Venue - Webinar (via computer)

Pricing: $165 Members | $330 Non-Members.

Validation methodologies for different types of microbial decontamination Webinar

Date - 15th April 2021

Time - 12.00pm to 1.00pm AEDT

Venue - Webinar (via computer)

Pricing: $33 Members | $88 Non-Members.

Watch this space for a full calendar of facility tours, interesting workshops and webinars that ABSANZ will offer in 2021!

WHAT'S NEW

Keep an eye out for latest news throughout the month which is published on the website.

AS/NZS 2243 review update

AS/NZS 2243.3:2019, Safety in laboratories, Part 3: Microbiological safety and containment review status.

Aerosol virus spread & hotel quarantine issue document by Neil Walls

Neil Walls has written to Chief Health Officers regarding COVID 19 risk management

Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), 6th Edition

This edition of BMBL includes revised sections, agent summary statements, and appendices

WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM) , 4th Edition

The WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM) has been in broad use at all levels of clinical and public health laboratories, and other biomedical sectors globally, serving as a de facto global standard that presents best practices and sets trends in biosafety

MEET AN ABSANZ VOLUNTEER - THIS ISSUE: JUNE FREELAND

June Image for newsletter

I am currently a professionally Chartered OHS Advisor, an accredited Biosafety Professional and a Chartered Biologist, with the Royal Society of Biology and have over 30 years experience authoring a range of scientific papers, university policy documents, and national regulatory guidelines. My initial biosafety experience was gained during 20 years of research investigating viral involvement in Leukemia and Lymphoma which necessitated managing the containment facilities which allowed us to work with live virus. This experience eventually led me to a career in biosafety, mostly within universities and my eventual involvement and co-chairing of the UK Biosafety Group. I have collaborated with government agencies, nationally and internationally, and have a wide knowledge of global biosafety issues which has enabled me to create several biological and general safety online training courses. I was a co -creator of an accredited Professional Biosafety Practitioner course which was subsequently adopted throughout the UK and introduced to the European biosafety community through the European Biosafety Association (EBSA). I was an active member of EBSA and still retain membership. I also audited and reviewed EBSA training courses.

The professional biosafety course remains one of my passions and something I would like to introduce to the ABSANZ community.

I am passionate about OHS in general and when the concept of using nanotechnology in pharmaceuticals and other research areas emerged, I realized that the OHS guidance and practices were not keeping up with this emerging technology. I formed and chaired the UK Nanotechnology Safety Group with all research institutions, industry partners and the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) along with the UK government being consulted and informed. I took this concept to the United States and was part of the global movement to produce consistent OHS advice and guidance partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This advice was adopted worldwide and adapted to local regulations. I was subsequently invited to author a chapter, along with other colleagues from other countries, in a global publication ‘Nanoengineering: Global Approaches to Health and Safety Issues’. I was lead author on the UK’s first guidance for nanosafety, ‘Working Safely with Nanomaterials in Research and Development’ that was launched at an International Conference on Nanosafety. I managed to successfully secure this conference for the UK (Edinburgh).

Since arriving in Australia, I have worked mostly in the tertiary education field until my retirement and have now created a consultancy company along with my partner. my area being Biosafety and Biosecurity. This allows me to provide advice and guidance for those organizations dealing with all aspects of biosafety and infection control. My background in both working with live virus and its biocontainment and my experience with Biosafety has allowed me to currently assist with efficient and effective practices and the creation of robust policies in preventing the transmission of COVID 19 and effective means of containment management should an infection occur.

I would like to see ABSANZ continue to grow and expand its membership to include many more areas involved with biosafety such as diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, animal facility and biosecurity as I am sure it can only strengthen the knowledge and experience that ABSANZ can offer as a whole. I am very proud to be involved with ABSANZ at all levels and hope that my personal skills and experience can contribute to an ever expanding organization

ENEWSLETTER MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS

Do you have any updates about the industry?
Have there been any exciting developments in your workplace which you would like to share?
Have you recently published an article?
Would you like to share your story about how your career has evolved the fields of biosafety and/or biocontainment?
Would you like to contribute to the eNewsletter or larger Newsletter?

Please email us to find out more.