November 15-19, 2026
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO)
University of Saskatchewan (USask)
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
https://cabs-acsb.ca/highcontainment.aspx
The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and the Canadian Association for Biological Safety/L’Association Canadienne Pour la Sécurité Biologique (CABS-ACSB) and Merrick Canada ULC are pleased to co-present the International High Containment Operations and Maintenance Workshop.
This workshop addresses the increasing needs of facility operators, maintenance and operations staff for training in relevant aspects of biocontainment facilities and fills a critical need within the operations and maintenance community. The focus of this workshop is operational-based, not research based.
This four day course allows participants to gain hands-on experience in some of the special containment and facility support areas (CL3 and CL3-Ag) of the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), Canada’s newest and largest CL3-Ag facility.
Proposed workshop topics will include:
- Physical integrity verification of containment laboratories
- Assessing the performance of HVAC and HEPA filtration systems
- Performing maintenance and operational functions on critical containment systems
- Integrating operations and maintenance with the scientific program
- Assessing and verifying the performance of primary containment devices
- Waste treatment and solid waste systems
- Energy centre operation
- Electrical systems and maintenance
- Decontamination procedures for animal containment spaces
In addition, participants will be presented with an overview in biosafety and biosecurity, as well as lessons learned in facility design and construction.
After successful completion of this 4 day workshop, participants will be able to:
- Describe a HEPA filter, how it works and how it is certified
- Explain the purpose of a BSC and how it works and identify the elements of BSC certification
- Identify and describe different systems and roles found within the energy centre of a large facility
- List different methods of treating liquid effluent from a biocontainment laboratory and identify items that could be considered when selecting a treatment system for biological laboratory waste
- Define purpose of room integrity in a containment laboratory and describe how it is tested and verified
- Describe how to safely maintain the different electrical distribution systems in a containment facility
The uniqueness of this workshop is in its intensive, participatory-based approach. Teams will work with different instructors each day to complete technical modules, supplemented by plenary lectures and discussions.
All aspects of the workshop will be conducted in English. It is important for safety reasons that all participants be comfortable working in this language. There are only 20 spaces available for this course. The deadline for application is July 30, 2026.
The cost to attend is $3,600 CAD (inclusive of the 5% Goods and Services Tax).
If you have questions or need more information, please contact us at info@cabs-acsb.ca The application process is now open! All applicants will be informed of the Committee’s decision by August 15, 2026.
