Ensuring Safety

Safety was a significant concern in the design of our project. We wanted to make sure not only that we were safe when working on our project, but that the final system that we designed would be safe to use in the field. We worked to ensure this in a number of ways, which can be outlined below:

Laboratory Personal Safety

All of the students working on the Calgary 2013 team received all of the necessary training as outlined in the University of Calgary’s safety policy. In brief, this included a Biosafety course as well as Workplace Hazardous Materials Information Systems (WHIMIS) training. In addition, students took a course introducing them to the necessary laboratory skills where they learned how to perform requied techniques both safely and efficiently.

In addition to proper training, the project that we undertook posed little risk to the students. The only organism used in our project was a commonly used lab-strain of Escherichia coli, which is designated as a biosafety I level organism. All necessary chemicals and reagents were handled with care and Material Safety Data Sheets were consulted when dealing with new compounds. Finally, students working in the lab were also supervised at all times by senior lab members, advisors or our lab manager.

Safety in the Design