Note from Dr. Jessica McCormick-Ell:
Dear Colleagues,
I'm pleased to announce the release of the 6th edition of the Biosafety in Microbiology and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL). For over 36 years, the BMBL has served as the cornerstone of laboratory biosafety practice in the United States since its initial release in 1984. The BMBL6 provides the recommended guidance and best practices around the safe handling of biological hazards in biomedical laboratory settings.
This new edition represents a significant update over the 5th edition (published in 2009) where all chapters, agent summary statements, and appendices have been updated to reflect changes in biosafety policy and practice over the past decade. In addition, new chapters, agent summary statements, and appendices have been added to address topics that have evolved in biosafety over the past decade, including, large-scale biosafety, clinical laboratory biosafety, inactivation of biological pathogens, and laboratory sustainability.
Although the BMBL6 includes many updates, the core framework is that of the protocol-driven risk assessment, which has been the foundation of the BMBL since its inception, and, in turn, yields evidence-based mitigation practices to manage biological risk in the laboratory. Specifically, the Risk Assessment and other introductory chapters have been updated to reflect issues and concepts that have emerged in recent years that should be addressed in performing, reviewing, and updating risk assessments in the biological laboratory.
The BMBL6 is the result of the incredible collaboration of more than 200 subject matter experts within and outside the Federal Government. Under the careful direction of the NIH co-author, Jeff Potts, subject matter experts from NIH, CDC, USDA, FBI, DoT, OSHA, HHS/ASPR, academia and the private sector contributed to this work. Stakeholder input was obtained from multiple scientific societies, including the National Academies, the American Society for Microbiology, the Association for Public Health Laboratories, the American Biological Safety Association, and the public.
I trust that you will find BMBL6 to be a useful resource for developing and optimizing effective laboratory biosafety programs. As in past editions, the BMBL6 is not designed to be a regulatory document, but a consensus-based standard of practice for use in protecting laboratory workers, communities, and the environment from the risks associated with biological hazards.
Access points to the electronic version of the publication can be found on our Division of Occupational Health & Safety (DOHS) website, https://www.ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/Pages/default.aspx, and externally via the CDC website.
The DOHS has purchased hard copy books and will provide copies to your laboratory through your IC Safety Specialist.
You can also go to the CDC INFO On-Demand - Publications external site for public ordering, beginning December 1, 2020.
Thank you,
Jessica McCormick-Ell, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Occupation Health and Safety
NIH Laboratory Safety Officer
