Safety & Security

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) is a secure facility regulated by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the University of Saskatchewan. We are committed to meeting and exceeding all regulatory requirements to ensure the protection of our research team and surrounding community.

VIDO operates as a containment level 2 (CL2) and 3 (CL3) research facility. Containment levels relate to the safety measures and equipment required to handle infectious diseases safely in laboratory settings. Levels range from 1 to 4, with 4 requiring the greatest precautions to alleviate risk. Containment Level 2 and 3 are equivalent to biosafety levels 2 and 3 in the United States and Europe.

In order to meet government standards for CL2 and CL3 laboratories, VIDO has implemented the following:

• State-of-the-art safety equipment, and specially engineered building features to protect employees and the surrounding community from exposure to infectious agents
• Stringent standard operating procedures and employee training to ensure safe handling of infectious diseases
• Controlled and restricted facility access including Facility Access Screening 

In addition, VIDO works closely with USask’s Research Acceleration and Strategic Initiatives and their new Research Security Hub to meet the Government of Canada’s new policy and guidelines related to research security.