Workshop Description

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO). the Canadian Association for Biological Safety/ L’Association Canadienne Pour La Sécurité Biologique (CABS-ACSB) and Merrick Canada ULC are pleased to co-present the International High Containment Operations and Maintenance Workshop .

This workshop addresses the increasing needs of facility operators, maintenance and operations staff for training in relevant aspects of biocontainment facilities and fills a critical need within the operations and maintenance community. The focus of this workshop is operational-based, not research based.

This four day course allows participants to gain hands-on experience in some of the special containment and facility support areas (CL3 and CL3-Ag) of the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), Canada’s newest and largest CL3-Ag facility.

Proposed workshop topics will include:

• Physical integrity verification of containment laboratories;
• Assessing the performance of HVAC and HEPA filtration systems
• Performing maintenance and operational functions on critical containment systems
• Integrating operations and maintenance with the scientific program
• Assessing and verifying the performance of primary containment devices
• Waste treatment and solid waste systems
• Energy centre operation
• Electrical systems and maintenance
• Decontamination procedures for animal containment spaces

In addition, participants will be presented with an overview in biosafety and biosecurity, as well as lessons learned in facility design and construction.

After successful completion of this 4 day workshop participants will be able to:

• Describe a HEPA filter, how it works and how it is certified
• Explain the purpose of a BSC and how it works and identify the elements of BSC certification
• Identify and describe different systems and roles found within the energy centre of a large facility
• List different methods of treating liquid effluent from a biocontainment laboratory and identify items that could be considered when selecting a treatment system for biological laboratory waste
• Define purpose of room integrity in a containment laboratory and describe how it is tested and verified
• Describe how to safely maintain the different electrical distribution systems in a containment facility

The uniqueness of this workshop is in its intensive, participatory-based approach. Teams will work with different instructors each day to complete technical modules, supplemented by plenary lectures and discussions.

All aspects of the workshop will be conducted in English. It is important for safety reasons that all participants be comfortable working in this language. There are only 18 spaces available for this course.

The cost to attend is $3,450.00 CAD. Please contact us if you have questions or need more information.

Applicants will be advised on the status of their application no later than January 30, 2025.

Venue and Accommodations

The International High Containment Operations and Maintenance Workshop will be held at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) (http://www.vido.org) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Details about accommodations will be sent to the selected applicants. A room block has been reserved.

Course Application

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Cancellation policy

Due to the nature of this course, once registration fees are submitted they are non-refundable.

Program

Opening Reception

Sunday, May 4, 2025 Opening Reception

Day 1, Monday, May 5, 2025

Day 2, Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Day 3, Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Day 4, Thursday, May 8, 2025