In a poster presentation at the American Biological Safety Association 61st annual Biological Safety Conference in Charleston, S.C., Flad's Paul Hansen and Jared Machala of engineering firm WSP + ccrd will explain the differences in regulatory, programmatic, and safety needs between confinement facilities and biocontainment spaces. The two will be available to add details and answer questions Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 15 and 16, from 12:30-1:30 pm.

Confinement facilities are used to secure and safely manipulate hazardous material and its associated waste, and to minimize the risk of cross-contamination, while biocontainment facilities maintain containment systems, preventing the release of pathogenic material. Highlighting recently designed and constructed facilities, the team's poster (#19 among ABSA's poster array in the exhibit hall) presents the attributes of chemical and radiological confinement facilities, delineating their unique features and the extent to which these facility types draw from biocontainment industry concepts.

Attendees will gain an understanding of the characteristics of confinement labs, as compared to their biocontainment counterparts, including the types and allowable quantities of materials housed, material surety considerations, regulatory criteria, health physics considerations, primary and secondary confinement approach, cross-contamination considerations, lab room integrity, and engineering systems elements.

Flad is also an exhibitor at the conference, occupying booth #500.