Hazard Identification Tool (HIT)
For Biohazards
For Staff
PLEASE READ THROUGH THIS INFORMATION.
What this Tool does.
The Occupational Safety & Health Act 1984 requires that workers identify the hazards in their
work, assess the risks posed by those hazards, and put in place control measures to reduce the
risks, prior to the work commencing. This Tool will help you to identify some of the biohazards
associated with your work.
Curtin’s Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) needs to keep track of the biohazards that are
being handled by its staff, and this Tool captures that information.
When you submit this Tool, you will receive a response telling you about the State and Federal
legislation that regulate the use of the hazards that you identify, and outlining the required
controls that you will need to fulfil in order to work with those materials. This information will
help you to prepare the risk assessment of your work.
Who should use the Tool.
Staff.
When this Tool should be used.
This Tool should be used during the planning stage of a research project or a teaching program,
before experimental work commences. This Tool, and the HIT-feedback you will receive after you
submit the Tool, will form your record that you have identified the biohazards associated with
your work.
The Tool can be re-used whenever the direction of the work changes, and previous controls are no
longer relevant. You can re-use it as often as you want to.
Where to submit the Tool.
Email the completed Tool to bernadette.bradley@curtin.edu.au.
What happens next.
You will receive emailed feedback from the IBC to inform you about any regulatory requirements
such as approvals that you will need to seek, from within Curtin or from a government agency,
before you can start experimental work. Applying for these approvals early will reduce the time
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you will need to wait before you can begin work. It will also list any legislated mandatory
controls that you will need to include in your risk assessment.
Then do risk assessment.
Prepare a Risk Assessment using the Generic Health & Safety Risk Assessment Template. You can
find this form under Principle 3 - Implementation, at
http://healthandsafety.curtin.edu.au/safety_management/policies.cfm.
For assistance regarding this form please email Bernadette Bradley, Biosafety Advisor on 9266
1383 or Bernadette.Bradley@curtin.edu.au
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Section A: You and the work that you do.
Title and full name:
Staff Number:
Your position:
Your Group
Area
Department
School and Faculty
Your Curtin phone number:
Your mobile phone number
Your Curtin email address:
Description of the work that you do
Short title:
Detailed Summary of your proposed work:
Location(s) where the work will be carried out
Campus:
Building(s):
Room(s):
Desired start date of the project
HIT HM HDR Student V0.4 January 2014
Anticipated completion date
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Section B: Biological Safety
QUESTION B-1
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving human or animal subjects?
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
QUESTION B-2
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving samples taken from humans
or animals?
(for example: blood, sputum, tissue, urine, faeces, etc)
☐ YES
☐ NO
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Type of sample(s):
Building(s) where
samples are handled:
☐ UNSURE
Species:
Facility(s) where
samples are handled
and stored:
QUESTION B-3
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving an Australian native animal,
or samples/parts from an Australian native animal?
(for example: fish, vertebrates, insects, invertebrates, fur, skulls, feathers, carcasses, bones, scats)
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
QUESTION B-4
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving Australian native plants, or
parts of an Australian native plant?
(for example: algae, flowering plants, and non-flowering plants, seeds, flowers, leaves, branches,
roots)
☐ YES
HIT HM HDR Student V0.4 January 2014
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
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QUESTION B-5
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving a poisonous/toxic plant?
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Plant common and scientific names:
Poison/toxin if applicable:
Method(s) that the poison/toxin could get into
the handler.
Building and room where plants will be
grown/handled/stored:
Are you planning to grow the plants in the field:
QUESTION B-6
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving a weedy plant listed on the
Department of Agriculture and Food's Declared Plants List?
(search for “Declared Plants List” on the DAFWA website http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/)
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
QUESTION B-7
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving biting/stinging or
venomous/toxic invertebrates that could harm the handlers?
(for example: bees, ants, jellyfish, coral)
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Invertebrate common and scientific names:
Bite/sting or venom/toxin (name it):
Building and room where invertebrates will be
raised/handled:
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QUESTION B-8
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving insects that are able to act as
vectors for human, animal and plant disease?
(for example: mosquitoes, ticks, thrips)
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Insect common and scientific names:
Risk Group:
Causes disease in which species:
If it is pathogenic to humans, then name the
disease, describe the symptoms, and the
normal treatment regime:
Building and room where invertebrates will be
raised/handled:
QUESTION B-9
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving microorganisms in Risk
Groups 2, 3 or 4?
(to find the Risk Group of your microorganism, refer to Section 3 of the Australian/New Zealand
Standard 2243.3:2010. It can be accessed by searching the library databases
http://databases.library.curtin.edu.au/ for ‘Standards Australia online premium’, and then
searching the SAI Global database for ‘2243.3’ )
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Scientific (and common) names:
Category (bacterium, fungus, yeast, virus, prion,
etc)
Risk Group:
Causes disease in which species:
If it is pathogenic to humans, then name the
disease, describe the symptoms, and the
normal treatment regime:
Normal and possible routes of infection:
Building and facility name(s) where you will
handle/store the microorganism:
Will you handle it inside a BSCII:
Can you handle the microorganism at the same
Physical Containment level as its Risk Group:
Describe the chemical disinfectant you will use
to decontaminate after use (refer to Appendix F
of the AS/NZS2243.3:2010)
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QUESTION B-10
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving any of the Security Sensitive
Biological Agents (SSBA) listed here:
• Abrin (reportable quantity 5 mg),
• Bacillus anthracis (Anthraxvirulent strains),
• Botulinum toxin (non-therapeutic forms,
reportable quantity 0.5 mg),
• Ebolavirus,
• Foot-and-mouth disease virus,
• Highly pathogenic influenza virus
infecting humans,
• Marburgvirus,
• Ricin (reportable quantity 5 mg),
• Rinderpest virus,
• SARS coronavirus,
• Vibrio cholerae (Cholera)
(serotypes O1 and O139 only),
☐ YES
☐ NO
• Yersinia pestis (Plague),
• African swine fever virus,
• Capripoxvirus (Sheep pox virus and
Goat pox virus),
• Classical swine fever virus,
• Francisella tularensis (Tularaemia),
• Clostridium botulinum (Botulism;
toxin-producing strains),
• Lumpy skin disease virus,
• Peste-des-petits-ruminants virus,
• Salmonella Typhi (Typhoid),
• Variola virus (Smallpox),
• Yellow fever virus (non-vaccine strains)
☐ UNSURE
QUESTION B-11
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving culturing microorganisms
from environmental or biological specimens likely to contain an SSBA? (for example: from soil,
wastewater, manure, animal carcasses, human excreta)
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
QUESTION B-12
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving a genetically modified
organism GMO?
(GMOs include many commercially available and gifted: cell cultures, mouse models, clones,
microorganisms containing constructed plasmids, and viral vectors. The use of GMOs includes
their purchase, importation, construction, culturing, and storage.)
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
What is the approval number of the GM
Dealing(s) you are going to do? (or ‘pending’)
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QUESTION B-13
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving importing biological material
from overseas?
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Does the importation require an Import Permit
from DAFF Biosecurity or AQIS?
Has that Permit been awarded yet?
If yes, list the DAFF Biosecurity or AQIS Permit
number (if required) and include a scanned
copy of the permit when submitting this Tool to
the IBC.
Does the importation require an Import Permit
or Approval from DAFWA?
Has that Approval been granted yet?
Include a scanned copy of the permit/approval
when submitting this Tool to the IBC.
Does your Permit or Approval specify a facility,
or type of facility, that the sample/organism
must be contained inside, and name any such
facility:
Are IATA DGR transport conditions required?
QUESTION B-14
Are you planning to conduct research or teaching activities involving transporting biological
material from the Eastern States into Western Australia?
☐ YES
☐ NO
☐ UNSURE
If YES, please fill out the table below:
Does the importation require an Import Permit
or Approval from DAFWA?
Has that Approval been granted yet?
Include a scanned copy of the permit/approval
when submitting this Tool to the IBC.
Does your Permit or Approval specify a facility,
or type of facility, that the sample/organism
must be contained inside, and name any such
facility:
Are IATA DGR transport conditions required?
End of Section B
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