University Animal Care Committee (UACC)
From the CCAC’s Guidelines on Laboratory Animal Facilities (2003):
‘Facilities for the care and use of all animals in research, teaching and testing must be conducive to the well-being and safety of the animals, provide an appropriately appointed and safe workplace for personnel, and establish a stable research environment.’
Visitors to animal facilities receive minimal training and orientation with respect to risks and procedures. It is therefore essential to protect visitors from the hazards of an animal facility, and to protect the animals and the facility from the potential hazards posed by visitors whose health status and judgement are unknown or questionable.
To ensure that the facilities, personnel and animals remain as safe and secure as possible the University Animal Care Committee (UACC) has developed a policy regarding visitors to any of the animal facilities on Queen’s Campus.
- Before entry, all visitors to any animal facility must be approved by the University Veterinarian or the individual responsible for managing the facility.
- Approval will only be given to individuals believed to have a valid reason to visit.
- All visitors entering an animal facility must be accompanied by an approved designate.
- No visitors under the age of 18 years will be permitted to enter an animal facility.
Breaches to this policy should be reported to the University Veterinarian or the UACC for further investigation. This can be done anonymously via the compliance reporting tool found on the Animals in Science website.
Requests for exemption to this policy can be submitted to the UACC for review.
**For the purposes of this policy a visitor is defined as a person who has not been listed on an approved animal use protocol or provided with authorization to enter an animal facility as part of their employment. An animal facility is defined as a facility for the care and use of animals in science.
| Date | New Version |
|---|---|
| 06/04/2008 | Policy Created and Approved |
| 03/09/2011 | Triennial Review |
| 11/19/2014 | Triennial Review |
| 11/16/2017 | Triennial Review; Revised to define facility and include statement regarding breaches of compliance and exemptions |
| 11/25/2020 | Triennial Review; Revised to reference anonymous compliance reporting tool; Exemptions to be submitted to UACC |
| 04/20/2023 | Triennial Review; New Format |