Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Infections at work and GMOs
Welcome to ACGM Newsletter 31. This Newsletter contains
information and guidance for those undertaking activities covered
by the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations
2000 and is designed to provide information on where guidance on
these regulations can be found. Full documents referred to here are
available at:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/dst/scdir/htm under 'Journals/Newsletters from the Directorate of Science and Technology'
Hard copies can be obtained through the ACGM Secretariat 0151 951 4718 or by e-mailing Jane.Rheinheimer@hse.gsi.gov.uk.
The forty-seventh meeting of the Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification took place on Tuesday 12 February 2002 at 10.30 am at the Health and Safety Executive, the Globe Room, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. The meeting included:
A summary of the meeting is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/acgm47.htm
HSE has recently published a guidance leaflet on the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2002, which were signed earlier this year by the Minister. These Regulations were developed in the interest of national security and in the light of potential terrorist activity after September 11 2001. The guidance leaflet is available on the website, http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg357.pdf. A copy of the leaflet is enclosed with hard copies of this newsletter. A brief summary of the regulations is also available on the website with this newsletter.
This document contains a list of the current fees for notification
of GM premises and GM activities. Please note that the fees change
every year, usually in April so if you submit a notification around
this time, please contact the Notifications Officer to check on the
current fees.
As most GM centres are aware, Regulation 13 allows users to notify
more than one activity in a single notification, i.e. connected
programmes of work. Some of the connected programmes notified to
date have been too open ended and fail to describe boundaries to
the work. Guidance has been prepared to give advice on what is
acceptable as a connected programme of work and what information to
include in such a notification. This guidance was originally issued
with Newsletter 30 but is provided here with revised content and
format and is recommended reading for all notifiers.
Guidance was on making changes to notifications, and when they
should be notified to the Competent Authority, was originally
issued with Newsletter 30. This guidance is currently under review
and although many of the ideas concerning significant changes
incorporated in the original document, 'Connected programmes of
work and notification of significant and other changes', are
likely to remain, there may be a reduction in the degree of
flexibility permissible in notifying changes to work at some risk
classes. If you are proposing to make changes to a notified project
or connected programme we suggest that you contact us for technical
advice on whether the changes require notifying to the Competent
Authority.
Administrative and other changes to notified information
We have great difficulty in ensuring that we contact the right
person, at the right site if we are not kept up to date with
changes in notified information. This document aims to highlight
the need to inform the Competent Authority when changes occur to
notified information and is recommended reading for all
notifiers.
A checklist to avoid the most common mistakes in notifications
This document details the most common mistakes made in
notifications, how to avoid them and refers to relevant guidance
issued in previous newsletters. The guidance aims to help your
notification proceed smoothly as omissions and errors cause delays
in the notification process.
HSE Specialist Inspectors see a large number of risk assessments
for a wide range of work during inspections and when reviewing
notifications, and have found that they vary widely in quality and
content. This document contains guidance on undertaking a risk
assessment for genetically modified micro-organisms and provides
one possible format for risk assessments.
The ACGM considers that infectious organisms eliciting altered
immune responses require special consideration when assessing the
risks involved. This document provides information on strategies
for immune modulation and hazards that need to be considered when
risk assessing these activities.
This paper describes action taken since the beginning of 2001,
following inspection of GM centres. The purpose of highlighting
enforcement action is to draw your attention to the kinds of issues
that some centres have missed, so that you can check that none of
these failures is present in your premises.
This document provides a brief description of an incident that has
been investigated and lessons that can be learnt from the
incident.
Changes in HSE contact details
This document contains details of who to contact with enquiries and
how to contact them.
As some of you will be aware, there have been changes to TD6
personnel, as well as an increase in the numbers of inspectors, to
reflect the strength of public feeling concerning biological agents
and GM issues. This document shows who is in TD6 and how TD6 is
organised.
If you would like to receive a copy of the ACGM Newsletter and associated documents by e-mail please send an e-mail to Jane.Rheinheimer@hse.gsi.gov.uk. We would be grateful if you could inform others in your organisation, (particularly those involved in risk assessment and notification) of this facility to ensure that guidance issued in newsletters receives a wide circulation.
Published on HSE web site 18 September 2002