- The Air Barrier of a Biological Safety Cabinets has been proven to be essential for any research and or diagnostics laboratory. Our dependency on them has improved drastically. Bio Safety Cabinets are a critical piece of laboratory equipment that is designed to be used when the operator is handling biologically hazardous materials. They are one of the key barriers that their operators rely on to protect them from infection with dangerous substance (LAI’s Laboratory Acquired Infections) that contribute to a high death rate that can be prevented simply by just using proper biological safety cabinets. This research focused on the air flow inside the cabinet and how it could affect the air barrier at the sash of the cabinet. In addition to establishing a methodology of validating the Aerosol test.
- Comparison of AS1807.22 and AS1807.26
A comparison of AS1807.22 and AS1807.26-2004 was conducted independently by Maged Shenouda and Sherry Randhawa of the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, South Australia and the Flinders University of South Australia, Faculty of Science and Engineering in partnership with the IMVS.
An Air Barrier in a Class II Biological Safety Cabinet, such as the Ultrasafe, protects the operator from the potentially dangerous product contained within the working zone of the cabinet while it also protects the product from any contamination from outside the work zone. It is one of the more critical aspects of a Class II cabinet and for many years Australia has led the world in its approach to the Air Barrier, with inferior designs failing on-site certification process.
The comparison looked at the technical aspects of the AS1807.22 and AS1807.26-2004 standards. From the comparison performed, Aerosol liquid test (AS1807.22) provide better qualitative method of testing the air barrier. KI discus test (AS1807.26) should not be carried out at any laboratory since it could contaminate the work within the actual laboratory, in contrast to Aerosol Test (AS1807.22) which does not interfere with other laboratory work.
Clyde Apac and Email Cytotoxic and Class II cabinets are all manufactured to meet the compliance criteria of AS1807.22, Aerosol test method.
