{"id":16710,"date":"2024-07-17T16:14:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T21:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imegcorp.com\/?p=16710"},"modified":"2024-07-17T16:14:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T21:14:46","slug":"multi-layered-structural-design-ensures-safety-for-high-containment-labs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imegcorp.com\/insights\/blog\/multi-layered-structural-design-ensures-safety-for-high-containment-labs\/","title":{"rendered":"Multi-layered structural design ensures safety for high-containment labs"},"content":{"rendered":"
By David Chlebus<\/p>\n
High-containment laboratories, or HCLs, house potentially harmful microbes and require various levels of safety precautions, or biosafety levels (BSLs), to protect people working in the lab and the greater community. Biosafety levels range from BSL-1 to BSL-4, with BSL-4 designed to contain the highest risk microbes. HCLs most often contain BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories that require specific safety equipment and facility design (i.e., ensuring exhaust air from labs is not recirculated).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<\/table>\n Planning the design and operation of a high-containment laboratory (HCL) for researchers working with dangerous infectious pathogens requires unique, multi-layered structural design considerations to ensure the safety of building occupants and the public on a day-to-day basis and to avoid a breech in the event of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado.<\/p>\n In day-to-day operations, the ability to decontaminate is essential. To create a smooth, airtight surface for decontamination of lab spaces, the walls are typically painted with an epoxy coating that rounds over corners and creates a wipeable surface. However, this epoxy coating is brittle and sensitive to cracking in the substrate. If the epoxy cracks, it cannot be adequately decontaminated.<\/p>\n To avoid this issue in HCLs, the walls are commonly of cast-in-place construction. The concrete walls must not crack after the coating is applied. Much of the cracking can be mitigated with special low-shrinkage concrete mixes in combination with form liners and water curing procedures. Concrete construction must also be slowed to allow for full curing of the concrete. Patching and grinding may be required as a last measure. A trade-off is created between the amount of time allowed for concrete cure and shrinkage versus the time required to repair the wall for any cracking that does occur.<\/p>\n |