Boundary Integrity Testing of Containment Level 3 (Biological Safety Level 3) Laboratories

A two-step process is recommended for boundary integrity testing: (1) Initial leaks are identified using smoke pencil or soap bubble tests, followed by necessary repairs; (2) The room is then subjected to quantifiable leakage rate testing to verify it meets minimum requirements. In the absence of definitive local guidelines, we recommend the published ARS greenhouse leakage rate at a room differential pressure of 300 Pa of 0.152 L/s per square meter of surface area as an acceptable criterion for testing construction boundaries of CL3 laboratories built using current CL3 construction practices. For primary containment CL3 rooms, a more stringent criterion following the German Verein Deutscher Ingenieure guidelines at a room pressure differential of 250 Pa is noted as 0.03620 L/s per square meter of room surface area is more appropriate.