Is there a safety committee at UCL?

Yes! At UCL all work with genetic modification techniques and with genetically modified organisms must first be discussed with the Departmental Genetic Modification Safety Officer (DGMSO) and approved by the College Genetic Modification Safety Committee. All work must conform to the UCL Local Rules^[3][4]. A risk assessment must be performed and agreed with the DGMSO before work begins. Our project has been approved to proceed. All the participants have gone through supervised training^[5], encompassing areas such as:

• What is biosafety
• Routes of infection
• The legal framework governing the work
• Hazard identification and controlling the risks
• Principles of control – physical and procedural
• Containment levels
• Correct use of safety control measures
• Good laboratory practice
• Correct disposal of laboratory wastes
• Administrative and safety information resources

These all align with national as well as international biosafety regulations and guidelines^[6][7] to ensure we have a fully comprehensive biosafety approach, incorporating risk assessment, safety and civic responsibility to scientific research.