Things to Consider When Purchasing a Biosafety Cabinet

A biosafety cabinet (BSC) – also known as a biological safety cabinet or microbiological safety cabinet – is an enclosed laboratory work space that allows researchers to work with potentially contaminated materials, protecting both the worker and surrounding laboratory space from pathogens.

 When purchasing a biosafety cabinet there are a few things you should consider.

What type of BSC will you need?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies BSCs into three different classes. While Class II BSCs are extremely common in biomedical and microbiological laboratories, each class has its own set of pros and cons. For example, Class I cabinets protect the user and the laboratory environment, but could potentially contaminate the samples; Class III cabinets are able to handle high risk bio materials, while Class II cabinets are only classified for low to moderate risk samples. Knowing what type of samples you’ll be working with can help inform which class of BSC  you purchase.

What are your size limits?

Space can be precious in a laboratory, that’s why it’s important to determine exactly how much large a BSC you will actually need. Finding the happy medium between having enough space to complete your work while also not monopolizing all of the space in your laboratory is very important.

Will you need to modify your BSC in anyway?

Because of the critical job these cabinets perform, it’s extremely important that they be assembled appropriately and be tested thoroughly. Some modifications can cause the equipment to malfunction or become dangerous. If you think you may have to modify a cabinet to suit your lab’s needs, consider, instead, purchasing a different model.

What is the lifetime cost of each BSC?

These cabinets are a sizable investment, whether they’re purchased new or used. It’s important, however, to take the lifetime cost of a particular model or class into consideration, rather than up-front, initial cost. Just because the sticker price on one model was lower than another doesn’t mean in the long run it will have been a cheaper investment. It’s important to take energy consumption, maintenance, and other customer reviews into consideration.  Click here to view our currenty inventory of used biosafety cabinets