Assessment of Biosafety and Biosecurity Engagements among Workers in some Institutional Research Laboratories (Private and Public) in Abuja, Nigeria

This study aims to evaluate the biosafety and biosecurity engagements among workers in some selected institutional research laboratories in Abuja, Nigeria. A biosafety and biosecurity survey was carried out from October 2021 to March 2022 (6 months) among 280 workers such as laboratory technologists, veterinary clinicians in institutional research laboratories (Private and Public) in Abuja, research officers and graduate students. This study data was collected using a standardized and self-administered questionnaire that had 2 sections; Socio-Demographic and Criteria assessment (General knowledge on laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, Laboratory biosecurity Agenda, Laboratory Biosecurity Plan, Achieve Laboratory Biosafety, Attitude towards Laboratory Biosafety). The predictors of biosecurity and biosafety engagement effect on the workplace (Private or Public) was significant with Omnibus χ2 (5, N= 280) = 44.130, Hosmer-Lemeshow values χ2 40.954, DF=7, p< 0.05. The interaction (Sector*Biosafety level) effect [F (5, 266) =5.43, p<0.05] was also statistically significant with its effect on the general knowledge of laboratory biosafety and biosecurity among the respondents. The relationship between the gender and position occupied in the laboratory and the assessment criteria was statistically significant F (15, 737) = 10.899, p<0.05; Wilks’ Lambda=0.575 and partial eta squared=0.168. It was concluded that the laboratory biosecurity plan and attitude towards laboratory biosafety had a significant influence on the biosafety and biosecurity engagement of the workers based on where (private or public) they work. Also, general knowledge of the workers in the laboratory about biosafety and biosecurity is significantly dependent on the sector where they work and their various biosafety levels.