Establishing a strong biosafety and biosecurity culture is one of the fundamental risk management principles for an organization working with biological materials. Such a culture influences the attitudes, approaches and commitment of individuals at all levels in the organization. The strength of an organization biosafety and biosecurity culture is based on how biosafety and biosecurity are perceived, valued, prioritized and integrated.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are the conveners of an International Working Group on Strengthening the Culture of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsible Conduct in the Life Sciences. This is a community of practice comprised of representatives of governments, academia, industry, DIY Bio, non-governmental (NGOs), and professional, international, and intergovernmental (IGO) organizations, using crowdsourcing to develop guiding principles and educational/training resources to support and promote a culture of global biosafety, biosecurity, ethical, and responsible conduct in the life sciences, based on the culture model and assessment methodology developed by IAEA for the nuclear safety and security culture. The Group conducts periodic webinars on the culture of biosafety, biosecurity, and responsible conduct and shares information and associated materials on members’ websites and in their training and educational activities.
The International Working Group developed in 2019 a Guide to Training and Information Resources on the Culture of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsible Conduct in the Life Sciences, available at: https://absa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CULTURE_TRAINING_CATALOGUE.pdf and https://ebsaweb.eu/sites/default/files/culture_training_catalogue-final-...
The International Working Group developed in 2020 the Culture of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsible Conduct in the Life Sciences -- (Self) Assessment Framework, also available online on the American Biosafety Association (ABSA)-International website at:
https://absa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Culture_of_Biosafety-Biosecu... (the self-assessment framework) accompanied by a data collection tool: https://absa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Culture_of_Biosafety-Biosecu... and on the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) website at: https://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/(httpPages)/0A20E57D9F8424B8C12581D8007EC32E?OpenDocument
To join the International Working Group on Strengthening the Culture of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsible Conduct in the Life Sciences and to leverage its members’ expertise to assess the organizational culture using the framework developed by this community, send emails to the points of contact. Benefits of conducting such assessments include gaining and sharing understanding how basic assumptions influence behaviours and performance as they relate to biosafety and biosecurity; providing information on behaviours that contribute to, or undermine biosafety and biosecurity; and gaining an understanding of the impact of culture on organizational performance in order to take meaningful action through a corrective action plan.
