Adrian J. Smith
Laboratory Animal Unit, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
The Laboratory Animal Unit at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science in Oslo is heavily involved in teaching and training in laboratory animal science at a national level. The Unit was built in 1978 and was in need of improvement. In addition, the Unit's staff wished to improve their management routines. It was felt that an application for accreditation would be a useful stimulus to meet these ends.
We wished to evaluate all aspects of the management of a laboratory animal unit, including animal welfare, health and safety, and veterinary medical care. Quality control systems such as GLP and ISO were, therefore, considered to be less suitable for these purposes. The only organisation at present offering evaluation of all the areas mentioned is AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) International. AAALAC has so far accredited 630 laboratory animal units in 16 countries.
AAALAC offer two fully confidential services:
Program Status Evaluation
Full accreditation
After an informal inspection by a laboratory animal veterinarian familiar with the AAALAC system, we opted to apply directly for full accreditation.
The first stage in the accreditation process is the production of a Program Description, describing all aspects of the Unit's activities and functions, using a template available from AAALAC. This document is broadly divided into the following sections:
The institution's organisation and chain of responsibility
Environment, housing and animal welfare
Veterinary care
The physical plant
The Program Description is reviewed by two inspectors prior to a site visit, which generally lasts for two days. Additional material is reviewed during the site visit, and the visit closes with an exit briefing where the inspectors give an unofficial oral evaluation of the Unit. The inspectors' official report is reviewed by AAALAC's Council, who make the final decision. The Laboratory Animal Unit was accredited at the AAALAC Council meeting in January 2002.
This presentation will give examples of how the AAALAC accreditation process led to a significant improvement in standards at the Unit, and how it was possible to achieve accreditation in a relatively old facility.
Back to the Scand-LAS 2002 Symposium programme.
This page is provided by the server of the Laboratory Animal Unit, at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo.