As you may know, September has been National Biosafety Stewardship Month. After news reports that some rather nasty pathogens had been left on shelves at their Bethesda campus, the NIH took action and cleaned house. The agency issued a Guide Notice for all their grantees to make sure that local health and safely regulations are taken seriously and followed.

While the Guide Notice only applies to those labs that accept federal funds, it is a good time for all labs to review their safety policies and procedures. According to their post, the NIH will:

• Reexamine current policies and procedures for biosafety practices and oversight to see if they need to be modified to optimize their effectiveness
• Conduct inventories of infectious agents in all labs to ensure that the institution has a record of which infectious agents are being used, along with documentation that those agents are properly stored
• Reinforce biosafety training of researchers, lab support staff, and members of institutional biosafety committees, to include: Reexamining training materials and practices; Updating materials as appropriate; and Ascertaining the appropriate frequency of training.

The NIH has also created a Frequently Asked Questions page here to address questions and concerns about the National Biosafely Stewardship Month initiative.