Protective Clothing
The Building 6B Animal Facility is operated as a barrier facility. In an effort to insure that the animal colonies remain free of pathogenic organisms and to minimize exposure of personnel to biological hazards, individuals entering the barrier must wear protective clothing. Protective clothing includes:
- Disposable Tyvek® suits
The disposable suits are worn over your street clothes and can be found at the station at the barrier entrance. Tyvek® suits are collected and run through the autoclave so that they are reused several times. Some investigators who work for extended periods in the facility choose to wear blue scrub suits instead of the Tyvek® suits. The blue scrubs may be found in the lockers outside the B2B-16 office area.
- Disposable surgical caps and shoe covers
These are also located in the station at the barrier entrance. Shoe covers will be placed over the street shoes as you pass into the barrier entrance.
- Surgical masks
- Disposable gloves
These are available in all animal rooms and must be worn before touching any animal or animal cage.
These are available throughout the facility and can be worn by the animal care staff and investigators when entering the animal rooms. While the use of masks is optional, you are encouraged to wear them to provide additional protection for the animals and to limit personal exposure to biohazards and allergens.
Please note that the animal caretakers and technicians are issued clothing and shoes which are dedicated to use in the barrier facility. Therefore, their dressing behavior is opposite from most investigators who use the facility (i.e., they wear Tyvek® suits and shoe covers when exiting rather than entering the facility).