Handling and training for high-risk pathogens

Qualification criteria for handling high-risk pathogens (Article 23-4 of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and Article 20-8 of its Enforcement Regulations)

고위험병원체 취급자별 교육 이수 시간표 - 고위험병원체 취급시설, 설치・운영 책임자, 생물안전관리책임자/관리자, 고위험병원체 전담관리자, 그 밖에 고위험병원체 취급자로 구성
Major	Individuals with a major in the health care or biological related fields Infectious diseases, microbiology, or pathology Medicine, dentistry, traditional Korean medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and veterinary medicine Biology, microbiology, life sciences, biotechnology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetic engineering
Experience	Experienced professionals in health care or biological related fields At least 2 years of experience after graduating from college or higher, and 4 years after graduating from high school Experience in disease diagnosis management and research Experience in pathogen management and research Experience in microbiological testing, examination, and research

Other related majors and experience deemed equivalent or similar by the Director of the Disease Control Agency No person who does not fall under any of the above categories shall handle high-risk pathogens.

✓ Handlers of high-risk pathogens

Persons responsible for the installation and operation of high-risk pathogen handling facilities, dedicated managers of high-risk pathogens, biosafety officers, and other handlers of high-risk pathogens.

Mandatory completion of training for handlers of high-risk pathogens (Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act Article 23-5 and Enforcement Rules Article 20-9)

Individuals handling high-risk pathogens must receive the necessary training annually to ensure the safe handling of high-risk pathogens.
The following must be included in high-risk pathogen handling training:
1. Safe handling techniques for high-risk pathogens
2. Matters related to physical containment and biological containment
3. Matters related to risk assessment of high-risk pathogen handling experiments
4. Matters related to emergency measures in case of an accident involving high-risk pathogens
5. Provisions related to biosafety management, including compliance requirements by safety management levels of high-risk pathogen handling facilities

Training completion hours by handler of high-risk pathogens

고위험병원체 취급자별 교육 이수 시간표 - 고위험병원체 취급시설, 설치・운영 책임자, 생물안전관리책임자/관리자, 고위험병원체 전담관리자, 그 밖에 고위험병원체 취급자로 구성
High-risk pathogen handling facilities Person responsible for installation and operation	Designated training (8 hours for levels 1 and 2, 20 hours for levels 3 and 4)	Within 6 months
	Refresher training (4 hours annually)	Once a year (ongoing)
Biosafety officer/Manager	Designated training (8 hours for levels 1 and 2, 20 hours for levels 3 and 4)	Within 6 months
Biosafety officer/Manager	Refresher training (4 hours annually)	Once a year (ongoing)
Dedicated manager for high-risk pathogens	Designated training (8 hours)	Within 6 months
Dedicated manager for high-risk pathogens	Refresher training (4 hours annually)	Once a year (ongoing)
Other handlers of high-risk pathogens	Refresher training (2 hours annually)	Once a year (ongoing)

Designated training : Group training (Korea Biosafety Association, Korea Health and Welfare Human Resources Development Institute)
Refresher training : Group training and cyber training, biosafety training from other ministries