THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
AND
SALFORD ROYAL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST
Genetic Modifications /Biohazards Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 10th March 2004 in the CSB 2nd floor seminar room (B331)
Present: Dr. C. O’Neill (Chair) Dr. Alison Blackburn Mrs. L. Gibbons
Dr. M.E. Hoadley Mrs. S. Crank Mrs. L. Coulston
Dr. S. Thompson Dr. R. Watson
1) Apologies
Apologies received from Dr. P.Warn
2) Minutes of the Previous Meeting (10th Dec.)
The minutes were accepted as correct.
3) Matters arising.
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a) Updating Door Signs
Stella Crank stated that Linda Gibbons had produced a set of signs by scanning and they were ready to print and laminate. Linda Coulston said that she could obtain some software for producing signs in the future. Stuart Thompson stated that it would be preferable if the signs where unified on all university sites. Cath O’Neill pointed out that the CSB needed these signs urgently and it was agreed that we should go ahead with the signs that had already been produced as they could always be changed later
Action: SC and LG to make the signs and distribute them. LG to liase with LC to obtain software for future signs.
b) Rodwell Autoclave
Rachel Watson reported that R&D would pay the £4000 deposit and that the Biomed budget had sufficient money left to pay the remainder but this was yet to be confirmed. Margaret Hoadley reported from the Risk Management Committee that Sid Swindles was looking at the feasibility of keeping the Rodwell Autoclave and installing the new autoclave in the same room. Stuart Thompson pointed out that if the Rodwell autoclave was kept it must continue to be serviced and was assured that this would be the case as the trust carried out maintenance on all autoclaves.
4) GM/Biohazard Policies
Update on Policies Ratified by Committee
Margaret Hoadley reported that the following policies:
Safe Use and Disposal of Ethidium Bromide
Laboratory Disinfectants – Selection and Use
Work with GMO’s and other Biological Agents
Waste Disposal in the CSB
Had now been passed by all appropriate committees and had been sent to Tim Rainey to put on the CSB Health and Safety website. So far only the GM policy is actually on the website but the rest should follow soon.
Margaret Hoadley also stated that the amendment to the contingency plan in the autoclaving policy could not be made until the new autoclave was in place.
The cross referencing between policies suggested by Cath O’Neill had been done.
5) Biohazard Incident
Margaret Hoadley reported an incident on 9/2/04 when two fresh and
bloody brain samples where left on the floor in room B218 by Professor D. Mann. The samples were in unlabelled, snap seal plastic bags which are not particularly robust and would probably have burst open if trodden on. The committee were told that Margaret Hoadley had sent an email to Professor Mann
stating the seriousness of this incident and referring him to the relevant section of
the CAG’s policy for ‘Work with GMOS and other Biological Agents’.
6) GM/Biohazard Applications
There were no new applications. An application from the previous meeting:
Chronic Renal Insufficiency Standards Imagementation Study
This application came from a consultant in the Renal unit at Hope Hospital
and the committee were unsure whether this project actually involved any university staff. Margaret Hoadley stated that she had contacted those involved and this was a university project. However there was some question over whether the facilities being used were suitable (centrifuging samples in an office was mentioned).
Action: MH and LG to go over to the renal unit to look into this.
7) Any other Business
a. Training
Linda Coulston mentioned that it would be useful if some staff from Hope attended the upcoming Biological Safety Officers course. Three members of staff (Linda Gibbons, Stella Crank and Julie McLoughlin) will be attending the course. Linda Coulston suggested that a system should be set up to keep records of staff training. Cath O’Neill asked if the university currently had a system that we could use on this site. Linda replied that there was no system currently in use and perhaps the CAG should set up its own system.
Action: MH to raise this issue at the Risk Management Committee.
- GM Registration
Linda Coulston suggested that GM registration for the Hope site needed to be looked into. Cath O’Neill mentioned that she had been working with the trusts previous H&S Manager, Ann Moor on this but was unsure how far it had gone. Stuart Thompson said that the CSB came under the umbrella of the universities GM registration. Linda Coulston said that if that was the case then we needed a written statement of this. It was suggested that this could be in the form of a short note in the Ploicy document.
Action: MH to contact the current trust H&S manager, John Crosby to ask if there is any paper work about GM registration on file.
- Risk Assessments
Linda Coulston asked us to check the generic risk assessments to see if they required any updating.
Action: LG to look at the risk assessments when installing the new door signs.
- Updating GM/ Biohazard forms.
Rachel Watson asked what should be done when staff changed on an already passed project. Stuart Thompson stated that the front page where personnel where listed should be changed and a copy sent to him.
- Frequency of Meetings
Margaret Hoadley mentioned that now that most of the policies had been competed that 3 monthly meetings were probably not necessary and that 6 monthly would probably be sufficient. However the committee felt that this was a long time between meetings if people needed to submit GM/Biohazard applications. It was agreed that the meetings should remain 3 monthly, but if no applications were received and there was no urgent business to discuss then every other meeting could be cancelled.
Action: MH to send out request for applications 1 month before next meeting.
8) Next Meeting
The next meeting will be Wednesday 9th June 11.0am.
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