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Supervisors are responsible for ensuring the safety of all personnel involved in animal research, particularly when handling chemical, biohazard, and radiation agents. While risk management for these agents is typically conducted at the laboratory level, it is crucial that these hazards are also included in the ethics applications.

The Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Code and university policy requires that work activities are supported by a and appropriate hazard controls, including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). At the UofA, work activities falling under the Code and policy include research, teaching and testing projects.

Additionally, under the Animal Ethics Policy, Principal Investigators (PIs) must include copies of all SOPs associated with their animal project when they submit an Animal Use Protocol (AUP) for review and approval to the applicable Animal Use Committee.

The Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) office will check to see if the written hazard assessment has been completed during their review of animal protocols and regular inspections of laboratory and animal care spaces.

Safe Work Practices (SWPs)

To help PIs meet the SOP requirement for their AUP application, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) has assembled a set of Safety Work Practices (SWPs). These practices indicate the minimum health and safety infrastructure and operational practices for working with animals and various hazardous materials or activities. PIs are to review all SWPs pertinent to their proposed project with their personnel when developing the hazard assessment for their project, and incorporate the health and safety guidance into the SOPs for their AUP application.

The is the base document that all groups conducting projects involving animals must review and follow. It provides guidance on how to conduct a for the project and incorporate the minimum health and safety requirements to support SOPs for an AUP application.

At the end of the Animal Teaching and Testing Projects SWP is a chart listing the topic specific Safe Work Practices available. PIs are to review the chart and ensure that all applicable SWPs are read and adapted into their project’s SOPs. More guidance, including templates, guidelines, policies and signage, can be found on the Environment + Safety Resources page.

Agricultural, Life + Environmental Sciences (ALES) Research

Safety information and resources can be found on the website.

Field Research

At the ¶®É«µÛ, Field Research is considered to be any off-campus research activity undertaken by members of the university staff, students, postdoctoral fellows, volunteers and faculty to collect, generate or analyze all forms of data, including but not limited to environmental, biological, archival, ethnographical, anthropological, library or other research (e.g. laboratory research conducted by a member of the university community at a host institution, reconnaissance field trips to locate suitable field sites or visiting an industrial or construction site), as well as field trips and field schools carried out nationally or internationally.

For those involved in field research, follow the Field Research Pre-Planning steps. This ensures that all fieldwork is conducted with the necessary precautions to protect both the researchers and the environment.