Abstract
This article provides a description of the improvement and enhancement of the mentored training program for investigative staff at the University of Pittsburgh Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (UPitt RBL) as originally described in “Evolution of a facility-specific BSL-3 training program for the University of Pittsburgh Regional Biocontainment Laboratory” (Hartman, 2010). During the third year of operation of the UPitt RBL, the Team responsible for managing the facility identified a number of specific areas for improvement in the mentored training program, including internal communication among the Team and between the Team and investigators, verifying proficiency at biosafety levels 1 and 2 prior to initiating training at biosafety level 3, establishing mentor qualifications, clarifying and restructuring the training assignments for mentor and trainee, improving the training documentation, and requiring final observation by management prior to granting independent access. Upon completion of the objectives, the Team formalized the program and implemented it for all new investigative trainees. The enhanced program provides a higher level of assurance that lab personnel are competent and proficient to work with biosafety level 3 agents.