The Culture of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsible Conduct in the Life Sciences: A Comprehensive Literature Review

INTRODUCTION: Managing biological risks requires an organizational culture that holistically ensures the biosafety, biosecurity, and biocontainment of infectious disease agents and toxins, in addition to conducting science in a responsible manner, complying with relevant laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies, as well as emphasizing norms, values, and beliefs of the entire life sciences profession. METHODS: Drawing upon the Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel's (FESAP's) 2014 recommendation to “strengthen a culture that emphasizes biosafety, laboratory biosecurity, and responsible conduct in the life sciences,” we undertook a comprehensive literature review of the culture of biosafety, biosecurity, and responsible conduct in the life sciences, including metrics by which to evaluate interventions at the organizational level. RESULTS: We identified 4031 unique citations published from January 2001 to January 2017 by searching the MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Global Health databases. In addition, a subset of 326 articles was reviewed in full. DISCUSSION: We found that while there were discussions in the literature about specific elements of culture (management systems, leadership and/or personnel behavior, beliefs and attitudes, or principles for guiding decisions and behaviors), there was a general lack of integration of these concepts, as well as limited information about specific indicators or metrics and the effectiveness of training or similar interventions. CONCLUSION: We concluded that life scientists seeking to foster a culture of biosafety and biosecurity should learn from the substantial literature in analogous areas such as nuclear safety and security culture, high-reliability organizations, and the responsible conduct of research, among others.