FELASA Module 7: Housing, Management and Occupational Health
Danish Legislation on facilities, care and husbandry is based on the EU directive 2010/63
The animal facility can be in a separate building or in a shared building
Staff include a manager, animal caretakers and a vet
Support staff like administration can also be included
Usually has one or more units
Large facilities may have different units for experiments vs breeding vs large
animals
Each unit has one or more rooms, different rooms are used for different functions
Animals are kept in a room with cages, tanks, pens etc.
Rooms for shared equipment like washing machines are found outside the unit
Facilities are often in isolated areas
Facilities in shared buildings are usually discreet due to security and public relations
Usually a closed area to stop infections in the animals and to stop the spread of
zoonotic infections in the public
Barrier animal housing
Keeps microbes away from the animals
Can be barriers at cage level, room level, area within a facility or the entire facility
Can included physical barriers like walls or behavioural ones such as disinfection
Includes things such as autoclaving cages and materials
Also bedding and food is irradiated
All surfaces need to be stable within the barrier and not include holes that dirt can
enter into
Surfaces must be able to withstand cleaning and disinfection
Conventional animal housing has no standard definition
It usually means that you can come and go from the area without special precautions
Usually contains open cages
Carries risk of moving infection into facility
Air pressure is important in an animal facility to prevent movement of air into the
facility
Windows shouldn’t be able to be opened
Hyper-pressure should be maintained in barrier units
Hypo-pressure should be maintained in quarantine rooms
Positive pressure rooms maintain a flow of air out of the room, protecting animals
inside from contaminants
Negative pressure rooms maintain a flow of air into the room, keeping contaminants
from reaching surrounding areas
Circulation is the movement of dirty and clean material in a unit
Cages become dirty when animals have used them
When cages become dirty, animals are transferred to new cages
Dirty cages are transported to a cleaning area
There should be a way of separating clean and dirty cages
Single corridor units need dirty cages and clean cages to be transported through the
same doors
This means clean cages can get contaminated when leaving the cage wash area
This can be overcome by having specific clean/dirty cage times or covering
cages in plastic
Dual corridor systems have a clean and a dirty corridor system, having clean cages
bought in at one end of the room and dirty cages leaving through another door
To be really effective different people need to operate the clean/dirty corridors
Rarely happens
Entering a barrier facility
There are different levels of barriers
Highest level:
Animals enter only via rederivation
, Personnel shower and change clothing
Gloves and masks are sometime used
Sometimes staff cannot enter if they have visited other animal facilities
Supplies are autoclaved
Sterile supplies go through a chemical lock
At lower levels animals from trusted vendors or any animals can enter
Containment facility
Designed to keep contaminated material inside
Waste including water may be filtered or sterilized
People entering wear a suit with hypo-pressure and may need to be disinfected when
leaving
Housing
There are three legal definitions of housing in the EU directive
Establishment: any installation, building, group of buildings or premises…where
animals are kept for longer time periods (E.g. Department of experimental medicine)
Holding room: Rooms, stables or animal rooms where animal enclosures are kept
(E.g. Room 10.3.38)
Animal enclosure: Any kind of enclosed area such as aquariums, terrariums, cages
or pens which are specially designed for keeping experimental animals (E.g. A
mouse cage in room 10.3.38)
The aim of housing an husbandry is to meet regulatory demands, to consider the
animals comfort and well-being, and to control the animal’s environment
Environmental factors include genetic, microbial, chemical and physical
Danish legislation contains both a general part and an appendix for different species
It is identical to the recommendations in the EU directive
Some of the minimum requirements stated include information about environment,
health and caging
Animal needs include: space to walk, surfaces, places to rest, hide and feel safe,
food and drink, company, temperature, air, circadian cycle, possibility to keep clean
and dry and opportunity for exercise
These vary depending on species
Enclosures need to meet the EU directive standards but also need to be practical
and be able to withstand wear and tear, not influence research and be easy to clean
Husbandry involves caring for the animals and daily work that happens in the facility
This includes tasks such as: receiving, marking, cage changing, cleaning, feeding,
watering, breeding, weaning, observing and killing
Acclimatisation: how well an animal adjusts to its environment
Allows an animal to maintain performance across different environments
When animals arrive they have been subjected to transportation and are in an
environment different to one they have left
This can effect different physiological conditions, therefore effecting
experimental results
A period of acclimatization is a legal requirement- usually 1-2 weeks
Some functions require longer
Rats and mice are usually held in plastic cages
Open cage- has a steel grid over the top of the cage
Need to be changed 1-2 times per week
Animals not very protected from pathogens
Humans will be exposed to lots of allergens in these types of rooms
Open cages can be put into a container called a scantainer
HEPA filtered so both animals and people are protected
Individually ventilated cages (IVC)
Sometimes called a microisolator
Airtight animal cage with air supply and exhaust system
Animal room will have very few allergens and be odor free
Danish Legislation on facilities, care and husbandry is based on the EU directive 2010/63
The animal facility can be in a separate building or in a shared building
Staff include a manager, animal caretakers and a vet
Support staff like administration can also be included
Usually has one or more units
Large facilities may have different units for experiments vs breeding vs large
animals
Each unit has one or more rooms, different rooms are used for different functions
Animals are kept in a room with cages, tanks, pens etc.
Rooms for shared equipment like washing machines are found outside the unit
Facilities are often in isolated areas
Facilities in shared buildings are usually discreet due to security and public relations
Usually a closed area to stop infections in the animals and to stop the spread of
zoonotic infections in the public
Barrier animal housing
Keeps microbes away from the animals
Can be barriers at cage level, room level, area within a facility or the entire facility
Can included physical barriers like walls or behavioural ones such as disinfection
Includes things such as autoclaving cages and materials
Also bedding and food is irradiated
All surfaces need to be stable within the barrier and not include holes that dirt can
enter into
Surfaces must be able to withstand cleaning and disinfection
Conventional animal housing has no standard definition
It usually means that you can come and go from the area without special precautions
Usually contains open cages
Carries risk of moving infection into facility
Air pressure is important in an animal facility to prevent movement of air into the
facility
Windows shouldn’t be able to be opened
Hyper-pressure should be maintained in barrier units
Hypo-pressure should be maintained in quarantine rooms
Positive pressure rooms maintain a flow of air out of the room, protecting animals
inside from contaminants
Negative pressure rooms maintain a flow of air into the room, keeping contaminants
from reaching surrounding areas
Circulation is the movement of dirty and clean material in a unit
Cages become dirty when animals have used them
When cages become dirty, animals are transferred to new cages
Dirty cages are transported to a cleaning area
There should be a way of separating clean and dirty cages
Single corridor units need dirty cages and clean cages to be transported through the
same doors
This means clean cages can get contaminated when leaving the cage wash area
This can be overcome by having specific clean/dirty cage times or covering
cages in plastic
Dual corridor systems have a clean and a dirty corridor system, having clean cages
bought in at one end of the room and dirty cages leaving through another door
To be really effective different people need to operate the clean/dirty corridors
Rarely happens
Entering a barrier facility
There are different levels of barriers
Highest level:
Animals enter only via rederivation
, Personnel shower and change clothing
Gloves and masks are sometime used
Sometimes staff cannot enter if they have visited other animal facilities
Supplies are autoclaved
Sterile supplies go through a chemical lock
At lower levels animals from trusted vendors or any animals can enter
Containment facility
Designed to keep contaminated material inside
Waste including water may be filtered or sterilized
People entering wear a suit with hypo-pressure and may need to be disinfected when
leaving
Housing
There are three legal definitions of housing in the EU directive
Establishment: any installation, building, group of buildings or premises…where
animals are kept for longer time periods (E.g. Department of experimental medicine)
Holding room: Rooms, stables or animal rooms where animal enclosures are kept
(E.g. Room 10.3.38)
Animal enclosure: Any kind of enclosed area such as aquariums, terrariums, cages
or pens which are specially designed for keeping experimental animals (E.g. A
mouse cage in room 10.3.38)
The aim of housing an husbandry is to meet regulatory demands, to consider the
animals comfort and well-being, and to control the animal’s environment
Environmental factors include genetic, microbial, chemical and physical
Danish legislation contains both a general part and an appendix for different species
It is identical to the recommendations in the EU directive
Some of the minimum requirements stated include information about environment,
health and caging
Animal needs include: space to walk, surfaces, places to rest, hide and feel safe,
food and drink, company, temperature, air, circadian cycle, possibility to keep clean
and dry and opportunity for exercise
These vary depending on species
Enclosures need to meet the EU directive standards but also need to be practical
and be able to withstand wear and tear, not influence research and be easy to clean
Husbandry involves caring for the animals and daily work that happens in the facility
This includes tasks such as: receiving, marking, cage changing, cleaning, feeding,
watering, breeding, weaning, observing and killing
Acclimatisation: how well an animal adjusts to its environment
Allows an animal to maintain performance across different environments
When animals arrive they have been subjected to transportation and are in an
environment different to one they have left
This can effect different physiological conditions, therefore effecting
experimental results
A period of acclimatization is a legal requirement- usually 1-2 weeks
Some functions require longer
Rats and mice are usually held in plastic cages
Open cage- has a steel grid over the top of the cage
Need to be changed 1-2 times per week
Animals not very protected from pathogens
Humans will be exposed to lots of allergens in these types of rooms
Open cages can be put into a container called a scantainer
HEPA filtered so both animals and people are protected
Individually ventilated cages (IVC)
Sometimes called a microisolator
Airtight animal cage with air supply and exhaust system
Animal room will have very few allergens and be odor free
