Biosafety Specialist

VCU has an exciting opportunity for a Biosafety Specialist! This position plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the university maintains compliance with federal and state requirements that apply to research involving biohazardous agents, rDNA, and hazardous chemicals. The Biosafety Specialist conducts laboratory biosafety oversight by inspecting facilities, reviewing research protocols, training personnel, supporting institutional safety programs and committees, and collaborating with researchers to ensure regulatory compliance and a strong safety culture.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Conducts comprehensive inspections of university laboratory facilities on an annual basis, and reviews new research protocols in order to identify potential compliance and safety issues and to provide recommendations for correction
• Interface heavily with principal investigators, laboratory staff, and animal husbandry workers
• Provides training through direct interaction during facility inspections and through platform and virtual instructional courses which is a key element in ensuring that university staff and students are adequately versed in the fundamentals of laboratory biosafety
• Provides support to other OHS programs including (but not limited to) respirator training/ fit-testing, hazardous waste management, laboratory closeout procedures, and response to incidents involving biological, rDNA, and/or hazardous chemical agents
• Serves as a member and/or OHS representative on multiple safety oriented committees and subcommittees including: Institutional Animal Care Committee (IACUC), Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), and plays a vital role in strategic committee initiatives
• Reviews institutional protocols for new research involving biohazardous agents, rDNA, and animal studies involving chemical and/or biological hazards
• Ensures that documentation of all specific regulatory pre-approval (NIH,CDC,DoD, et.al) is included within the proposal package
• Conducts Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) reviews in collaboration with the Office of Research (OVPRI) to ensure that hazardous materials are registered accordingly to ensure regulatory compliance and safe work environment
• Serves as instructor for biosafety training courses
• Maintain accurate records, inspection reports, and training data using shared drives, spreadsheets, and the EHS-OHS management system (e.g., SciShield)
• Responds to incidents involving chemical and biohazardous agents
• Promote a positive safety culture by learning about VCU’s research programs and using a risk-based approach to safety evaluations
• Other duties as assigned