Bio-ARROW - SmartForm - Disinfection and Inactivation

• Disinfect/Inactivate (Animal)
• Disinfect/Inactivate (Plant)
• Disinfect/Inactivate (General)
• Autoclave Testing
• Spill and Release Procedure

Disinfect/Inactivate (Animal)     

It is the PI’s responsibility to provide information regarding disinfection and disposal of materials, even if the tasks are performed by animal care staff. Please contact the individuals who disinfect/dispose of the materials to see what methods are appropriate for your research and for the facility.

Please see the IBC Policy for Animal Waste and Carcass Disposal located in the UW-Madison Researchers’ Biosafety Manual for guidance.  Bedding is not incinerated at UW-Madison unless special permission is granted.

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Disinfect/Inactivate (Plant)

It is the PI’s responsibility to provide information regarding disinfection and disposal of materials, even if the tasks are performed by greenhouse staff.  Please contact the individuals who disinfect/dispose of the materials to see what methods are appropriate for your research and for the facility.

Disinfect/Inactivate (General)

Autoclaving materials containing bleach is not recommended as harmful chlorine gas may be released; therefore, if both are listed, please clarify when either treatment with bleach or by autoclaving is done, as applicable.

Ethanol evaporates quickly, not allowing for sufficient contact time.  Therefore, it is a recommendation to avoid using ethanol by itself for disinfection.

Sharps are items designed to cut or puncture skin and sharp items contaminated with human blood and body fluids. Sharps containers in BSL1 or BSL2 labs are not required to be autoclaved before disposing through MERI.  BSL3 labs, however, are required to autoclave the sharps containers prior to disposal through MERI.

Hazardous glass and plastic includes items that can cut or scrape if disposed of in normal trash containers. (e.g. Pasteur pipettes, other pipettes ,pipette tips,  uncontaminated slides, coverslips, broken glass,  any fragile items) These items may require modified disposal procedures.

For information on sharps and laboratory glass disposal, please see our website:  https://ehs.wisc.edu/disposal-services/sharps-disposal/

Autoclave Testing 

For information on how to test an autoclave and autoclave safety, please see our website:  https://ehs.wisc.edu/labs-research/biological-safety/autoclaves/

Spill and Release Procedure

Biological spill guidance and spill procedure templates are available on the OBS website:  https://ehs.wisc.edu/labs-research/biological-safety/biological-spill-protocols/.

If you would like to use these templates, complete the header (title) at the top of the page then create a customized protocol using the dropdowns provided within the template. In the header, the line above "Lab Biohazardous Spill Protocol for" should list the PI or laboratory name. The line below "Lab Biohazardous Spill Protocol for" should indicate when the procedure will be used (e.g., specify the biological materials, location(s), or other information that indicates when the spill protocol would be used).

Guidance for completing the templates may be found at https://ehs.wisc.edu/labs-research/biological-safety/biological-spill-protocols/.

A transgenic release document example is available on the OBS website:  Release of Transgenic Materials pdf

If you would like to use this template, please edit template as appropriate to specify procedures for biological materials handled in your laboratory (i.e., remove release example(s) if not applicable and/or include any additional procedures).

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Still have questions? Call the Office of Biological Safety (OBS) at 608-263-2037. We are happy to help!