Advocating the Use of LAT for Biorisk Management to the Government of Indonesia

By the end of 2018, INDOHUN-OHLN had succeeded in developing a Laboratory Assessment Tool (LAT) for the laboratory biorisk management system and guidelines for its use. The assessment tool is an important instrument for laboratories to be able to assess the facilities and capacity they have to become a standard laboratory in the field of biorisk management. This LAT is in accordance with the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 8340: 2016 developed by the National Standardization Agency (BSN), which is in line with the CEN (CWA) workshop agreement 15793: 2011, WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual 3rd edition 2004, and WHO Biorisk Management: Laboratory Biosecurity Guidance 2006. With instruments that have been referring to national and international standards, the LAT that has been developed by INDOHUN-OHLN can be used to assess and map the capacity of the implementation of biological management in various life science laboratories in the human, animal sector , and the environment.

In order to expand the benefits of using LAT laboratory biorisk management, INDOHUN-OHLN conducted hearings and meetings with Ministries and Institutions, specifically the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti), and the National Standardization Agency (BSN). This is done to advocate for policy makers to adopt LAT as a national instrument in assessing the implementation of biorisk management in the laboratories of ministries and related institutions.

The first meeting (April 16, 2019) was held with the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia to introduce LAT biorisk management. At this moment, the INDOHUN Coordinator presented the importance of implementing biorisk management in Indonesia. The Director General of P2P welcomed the initiation and agreed to adopt this LAT to assess the capacity of the biorisk management of the Center for Environmental Health and Disease Control Engineering (BBTKLPP). In addition, an agreement was reached that each time the training was conducted, each laboratory would carry out an independent assessment using LAT with the help of the INDOHUN-OHLN team.

Furthermore INDOHUN-OHLN on 26 and 29 April 2019 were involved in several meetings with the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education to discuss the OHLN program, including membership and implementation of biorisk management in university laboratories. At present, the Directorate of Sarpras Kemenristekdikti is developing a new supporting policy for standard facilities at the university, including laboratories. The result of this meeting was that the Directorate of Sarpras agreed to work with INDOHUN-OHLN as a support team in the process of developing the policy.

Not stopping there, INDOHUN-OHLN was invited to attend an internal meeting with the Deputy PSPK, BSN on May 20, 2019. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss forms of cooperation between institutions in encouraging the application of a laboratory biorisk management system in Indonesia (SMBL). The results of this meeting were the result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which contained an agreement on cooperation regarding the acceleration of the implementation of SNI 8340: 2016, LAT training and the application of laboratory biorisk management system.