New Strategy to Monitor and Assess Laboratory Biosafety Programs

Introduction Laboratory biosafety – a component of biosecurity – has specific elements that together, comprise a facility’s capability to both protect employees and the surrounding public and environment. Measuring these elements permits assessment and the costing of program-specific safety interventions. In the absence of a strategy and toolset, we developed a conceptual framework and toolset that monitors and assesses laboratory biosafety programs (LBPs) and provides useful information (e.g., return on investment [ROI]) for decision makers.