Is your biosafety cabinet truly safe?

Many cabinets meet the minimum safety requirements of NSF and other international standards for BSCs, but does your biosafety cabinet have these extended safety features to further protect you from the cabinet's wear and tear and unexpected situations?

1. Negative-pressured side walls. The entire cabinet should be pressure and air-tight to ensure that biohazards will not leak through joints and seams. Even if filters have very high efficiency, some particles may bypass the filters and leak through joints in the body of the cabinet - making the whole cabinet unsafe. However,  if the side walls are negatively-pressured, this helps prevent contaminants from escaping out. 
2. Puncture-resistant metal plenum. Cloth or bag-based plenums are subject to mechanical failure. What if it tears? Then it will compromise the cabinet's safety function. On the other hand, metal plenum resists tear and leak - which provides added safety for you and your environment.
3. ULPA Filter. ULPA stands for Ultra Low Penetration Air. ULPA filters can remove from the air at least 99.999% of particles of sizes 0.1 to 0.3 microns. You should know that ULPA filters have 10 times filtration efficiency of HEPA filters; therefore, 10 times more protection against biohazards.
   
4. Antimicrobial coating. Paint finish of most biosafety cabinets in the market have resistance to humidity and corrosion. What about its ability to combat microorganisms? Nah. But have you heard of an antimicrobial coating impregnated with silver ions (we all know silver exhibit oligodynamic property) that can inhibit microbial growth? Yes, it is existent and it can greatly improve your safety against biohazards.

Hear this. Think safety, You should choose the biosafety cabinets that have these enhanced safety features, beyond international standard requirements.

Here is a quote from Dave Collins: 

"If safety is zero harm, then love must be zero hate."

Hey guys, this is just a reiteration of the blog What to look for in a biosafety cabinet? 3. Safety and Health Features.