A biological safety cabinet is needed for operations that can spread infectious agents in the air. This also applies to infectious agents that are not normally transmitted through the air or are airborne.

There are different types of safety cabinets.

Biological safety cabinets are available in three different classes: Class I, Class II and Class III. The biological safety cabinet you should choose depends on

• what risks the work entails
• the properties of the infectious agents
• the type of work to be done.

As an employer, you must investigate and assess the risks in your activity.

What class and type of cabinet is needed should be clear from your investigation and risk assessment.

It is important that the work instructions always specify what type of cabinet to use. Anyone working in the cabinet needs to know that it is intended for personal protection.

Learn how to work in a safety cabinet

Laboratory personnel should be aware of the factors that are important in order to use the microbiological safety cabinet and for it to function as intended.

Such factors include

• to work with calm movements so as not to cause turbulence
• the placement of the cabinet in the laboratory
• the airflows in the cabinet and in the room
• movement patterns of people in the laboratory
• the effect of opened doors near the cabinet
• equipment in the cabinet that affects the airflow.

Test and maintain the safety cabinet

The function of a microbiological safety cabinet must be controlled in order not to provide a false sense of security. As an employer, you must therefore ensure that the safety cabinet is tested and maintained.

There are three different types of microbiological safety cabinet tests in the standard SS-EN 12469:

• type test
• installation test
• recurring tests.

The standard (SS-EN 12469) contains the minimum requirements that a microbiological safety cabinet must meet.

It is important that those who order recurring tests have knowledge of how the microbiological safety cabinets work and know the difference between product protection and personal protection, so that they do not forget to check personal protection.

The regulations on microbiological safety cabinets can be found in the Swedish Work Environment Authority's provisions and general guidelines (AFS 2023:12) Design of workplaces, chapter 5, climate and installations.

Swedish Institute for Standards, SIS website