Testing the performance of microbiological safety cabinets used in microbiology laboratories in South Korea

To test a performance of the microbiological safety cabinets (MSCs) according to the type of MSCs in microbial laboratories.

Tests were carried out to assess the performance of 31 MSCs in 14 different facilities, including six different biological test laboratories in six hospitals and eight different laboratories in three universities. The following tests were performed on the MSCs: the downflow test, intake velocity test, high-efficiency particulate air filter leak test and the airflow smoke pattern test. These performance tests were carried out in accordance with the standard procedures. Only 23% of Class II A1 (8), A2 (19) and unknown MSCs (4) passed these performance tests. The main reasons for the failure of MSCs were inappropriate intake velocity (65%), leakage in the HEPA filter sealing (50%), unbalanced airflow smoke pattern in the cabinets (39%) and inappropriate downflow (27%).

This study showed that routine checks of MSCs are important to detect and strengthen the weak spots that frequently develop, as observed during the evaluation of the MSCs of various institutions.

Routine evaluation and maintenance of MSCs are critical for optimizing performance.