Search

Workers engaged in the care and handling of laboratory animals perform tasks in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings on behalf of the civil and uniformed services, academic institutions, hospitals and non-profit entities, contract research organizations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, diagnostic facilities, and animal breeding facilities, among others. The vivarium environment is one where both animals and human workers spend extended time in close proximity, and can involve both terrestrial and aquatic animals of highly diverse species for in-life as well as post-mortem stages of research, teaching, and testing. In these environments, workers may encounter exposures to a wide range and intensity of biological, physical, chemical, and psychosocial health hazards. Managers of laboratory animal facilities therefore need to simultaneously consider the health and well-being of the animals as well as that of the animal handlers and other staff in the facility. In many laboratory animal settings, however, preventive programs for animal care workers have been less developed and comprehensive than those for workers in other industries (McMurry and Key, 1999).