Reframing emergency preparedness from facility survival to laboratory animal welfare

Natural disasters, infrastructure failures, and infectious disease outbreaks can disrupt the operations of laboratory animal facilities and threaten both research continuity and animal welfare. Previous events, including Tropical Storm Allison and the Great East Japan Earthquake, demonstrated the vulnerability of laboratory animal populations during emergencies and highlighted the need to incorporate animal welfare considerations into emergency preparedness planning. The aim of this study was to identify key elements of emergency preparedness programs for laboratory animal facilities and to propose a framework to support the development of practical Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in which animal welfare considerations are integrated into facility operations and decision-making processes during emergencies.

Regulatory frameworks and guidance documents from the United States, Europe, Canada, and Korea were reviewed and compared to identify approaches applicable to laboratory animal facility management. The analysis included definitions of emergencies, core program components, veterinary oversight systems, and decision-making structures across these four regulatory contexts. Despite differences in regulatory approaches and institutional contexts, common elements were identified and organized into three functional domains: continuity of facility operations, protection of animal welfare, and institutional response capacity. Based on these findings, we propose an integrated emergency preparedness framework and a stepwise operational checklist intended to facilitate the integration of welfare priorities into emergency planning and response.

Emergency preparedness should not be regarded solely as an operational requirement. In laboratory animal facilities, it should be understood as an extension of the animal welfare program that, while prioritizing personnel safety and institutional resilience, also seeks to minimize animal suffering and preserve the value of ongoing research when normal operating conditions cannot be maintained.