Biosafety Practices, Procedures, and Administrative Controls
Administrative controls are the written and behavioral layer that makes containment work: standard operating procedures, access control, signage, training records, incident reporting, and good microbiological technique. Candidates should know the core safe practices - no eating, drinking, or mouth pipetting in the lab; handwashing before leaving; keeping doors closed; decontaminating work surfaces before and after work; and using mechanical pipetting devices. Universal precautions and standard precautions treat all blood and body fluids as potentially infectious, so technique does not depend on knowing a patient's status.
Understand the chain of infection framing and the role of sharps safety: needles should never be recapped by hand, and sharps go directly into puncture-resistant containers. Know the difference between decontamination, disinfection, and sterilization as practice categories (covered further in Domain 6). Administrative controls also include medical surveillance, immunization offers, exposure protocols, and spill response procedures - questions often test whether you know the first response step (evacuate, warn, then decontaminate per SOP).
Traps: confusing standard precautions with transmission-based precautions; forgetting that administrative controls are second in the hierarchy, not equal to engineering; assuming signage is optional at BSL-2.
Rule of thumb: if a practice depends on the worker remembering to do it correctly every time, back it up with an engineering control or a written procedure.
Worked example: A spill of infectious material in a BSC - the SOP should specify holding airflow, applying absorbent, disinfecting with a validated contact time, and disposing as biohazardous waste.