Facility Access
- These steps are required to obtain access to CCM Facilities ONLY. All steps must be done in the order they appear below. This is a shared process between IACUC and CCM.
- Contact the Laboratory Manager for access to approved Animal Satellite Housing Facilities; Contact Police and Security for Access to non-Animal areas
1. INITIATE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH CLEARANCE
The staff member must have obtained clearance from the Occupational Health Services (OHS) within the past three years to work with the species indicated in the protocol. If the species indicated is a nonhuman primate, the OHS clearance must be obtained within the past 12 months.
If you do not have a current clearance, please complete this form and send it to OHS for review. This is a fillable PDF form you can download and complete online or print it to complete.
Once complete, the form can be sent by email as a PDF attachment or by fax. Subject: Animal Research OHS Clearance Email: mgbohsanimalclearance@partners.org Fax: 617-643-5570
** Please allow up to five (5) business days for Insight to be updated with clearance information **
NOTE: This screening form is to obtain OHS clearance for working with research animals only and does not replace the new employee occupational health appointment. New employees must follow instructions for the new employee OHS appointment. Working with animals can be addressed as part of that appointment. Please notify OHS which species you will be working with and ask them to enter your clearance into Insight at that appointment.
Please contact Occupational Health for questions about missing clearance information (617-726-2217) *Please let OHS know the clearance requested is for working with animals.*
While waiting for OHS Clearance, proceed with Complete Required Training. For assistance with this step, please click here.
2. COMPLETE REQUIRED TRAINING
- CITI Training:
Completion of the IACUC approved training program. This program has been approved by the IACUC to fulfill the training requirement. For required courses, go to the CITI Grid. Please make sure you have completed every applicable course on the grid for your protocol. Note: if you will be performing surgery and were unable to view the General Training in Rodent Survival Surgery video in CITI, please click here to view the video. - CCM Orientation Lecture and Orientation Quiz:
Complete CCM Orientation Lecture and Orientation Quiz through Healthstream. You must take the complete CCM Orientation Lecture first, then complete the quiz after that. Once logged into Healthstream, search the course catalog for the course titled “MGH Center for Comparative Medicine Orientation and Facility Access Training” to enroll. If you need additional information about how to access this course, or if you having trouble, please click here. Please note you must complete and pass the quiz with a grade of 90% or higher. For assistance with this step, please click here.
3. PROTOCOL AMENDMENT
OHS clearance and CITI training must be completed prior to submitting the Protocol Amendment
The Principal Investigator must submit an amendment to the IACUC protocol in Insight to include the new researcher as Study Staff. Personnel added as Non-study Staff will not be granted access. For assistance with this step, please click here
4. REGISTRATION FORM
Only upon completion of step 3
Please complete and submit the following registration form here. Please note this form is ONLY accessible while connected to VPN or the MGB corporate network. This will let the IACUC know your protocol number and which facilities you are requesting access. For assistance with this step, please click here
When the steps above are completed, you will receive an email stating that you are authorized for a facility tour. Once you receive that email, proceed to step 5.
5. SCHEDULE A CCM FACILITY TOUR
Tours are scheduled and reserved using an online CCM facility tour calendar. This link is located in your clearance email.
You must bring your MGH ID badge and a copy of your authorization email. If you do not have your MGH ID, email copy, or if you arrive more than five minutes late, you will be asked to reschedule your tour. For assistance with this step, please click here
NOTE: For access to areas housing USDA-covered species (e.g., rabbits, livestock, NHPs), users must attend the Orientation to Large Animal Use and Care lecture. Contact Mark Randolph (marandolph@mgh.harvard.edu) to register. This requirement must be completed within 60 days of the facility tour. Failure to comply may result in facility access being revoked.
6. USDA-COVERED SPECIES ONLY – Orientation to Large Animal Use and Care lecture
For access to areas housing USDA-covered species (e.g. rabbits, livestock, NHPs), users must attend the Orientation to Large Animal Use and Care lecture. Mark Randolph will reach out to schedule this training. Contact Mark (marandolph@mgh.harvard.edu) with questions about registration. This requirement must be completed within 60 days of the facility tour. Failure to comply may result in facility access being revoked.
7. USDA-COVERED SPECIES ONLY- Additional Training
For users working with USDA-covered species (e.g. rabbits, livestock, NHPs), the Facility Veterinarian will reach out to schedule an additional required training.
- Non-human primate: Herpes B virus safety training & cage-side training
- Non primate USDA-covered species: Cage-side training
- Basics of animal caging
- Proper handling, restraint, injection techniques
- Basic clinical assessment
- Response plans for an escaped animal
- Location, contents, and entry of information into Individual Animal Medical Record
- Occupational health and safety, including species-specific PPE and injury/bite procedures