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Date adopted: September 7, 2005
Revised: October 23, 2007
Federal law requires that the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) make recommendations to the Institutional Official (IO) for development and administration of animal care and use training programs for all personnel involved in the use of animals in teaching or research. Employees of Laboratory Animal Resources (LAR) require training in order to understand the safe application of principles of basic and advanced animal husbandry, veterinary medical treatment, research design, and regulatory requirements. It is the policy of The University of Montana-Missoula IACUC to provide and document a comprehensive training program for all LAR employees.
Policy Procedure
- Administrative Responsibility
- It is the responsibility of the Director of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR)/Attending Veterinarian (AV) to design and implement the training program for LAR employees.
- It is the responsibility of the IACUC Coordinator to
- maintain records of LAR training,
- provide instructions for use of the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) web training site,
- assist in the scheduling of biweekly training sessions, and
- provide occupational health and safety (OH&S) materials, including a summary of hazards and instructions for OH&S program participation.
- Documentation of Training
- The IACUC Coordinator will maintain individual files for all LAR employees that will include
- Training received by LAR employees,
- Formally scheduled training sessions and meetings
- LAR employees will also maintain records of on-the-job training that will be photocopied twice yearly (January and July) and added to their individual training files
- Training provided by LAR employees to other employees or to animal users, including topic, trainee, and time required, and
- Service in organized laboratory animal medicine, such as participation on an IACUC subcommittee or regional [Northern Rocky Mountain Branch (NRMB)], district (District VIII), or national professional association [American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS)].
- All training documents will be made available by the IACUC Coordinator to the IACUC, federal regulatory personnel, or any other qualified inspector on demand.
- Training Program
- New LAR employees should receive within 1 week of employment
- Orientation notebook or web references to employee handbook, new employee orientation meetings, LAR employee policy, AALAS certification programs, parking information, and Griz card information,
- Facility tour,
- Information on occupational hazards in the work place and access to medical surveillance forms, including specialized safety training such as non-human primate safety training, as applicable,
- Material safety data sheet training,
- Review of IACUC web site home page tutorial with the AV or the IACUC Coordinator,
- Daily supervision and training by LAR employees approved by the DLAR/AV until competency demonstrated to these individuals, and
- On-going training by AV and approved LAR employees.
- All permanent LAR employees
- Progression through established career ladder that includes promotions and raises (~9% salary increase per level) based on, at a minimum, successfully passing national certification examinations sanctioned by AALAS
- Laboratory Animal Technician I (entry level)
- Laboratory Animal Technician II (ALAT certification)
- Laboratory Animal Technician III (LAT certification)
- Laboratory Animal Technician IV (LATG certification)
- Laboratory Animal Manager (CMAR certification)
- CMAR certification can be pursued by employees at the Laboratory Animal Technician IV level for achieving a raise (~4.5%), but promotion to Laboratory Animal Manager is only possible when a single position is funded, available, and advertised
- AALAS training materials and the cost of the first exam attempt for each certification level will be provided by the employer
- Complete the specified training modules on the CITI training web site http://www.citiprogram.org
- To use the CITI web site for the first time, select "Register Here"; choose Univ of Montana from the list of institutions; fill out your username (email address is good), password and member information; page heading "Select Group - U. of Montana, at bottom of page select "Continue to question 1 at this time;" check the appropriate course(s) that you want to take; are you a VA member? select "No"; "Learners Menu": take the course(s) you have selected and take the related quiz; send an email to kathryn.mariucci@umontana.edu stating that you have completed the courses required.
- For subsequent uses of the web site sign on using your unique user name and password; select "Learners Menu " and scroll to the bottom of the page; select the course(s) you wish to take.
- “Working with Mice”
- “Working with Rats ”
- “Working with Procedures That Cause More Than Momentary Pain and Distress ”
- “Working with Rabbits ”
- “Working with Guinea Pigs”
- "Working with Frogs, Toads or Amphibians"
- "Working with the IACUC"
- Biweekly discussion/training sessions with AV or guest speaker to include
- basic animal anatomy
- anesthesia
- clinical skills such as blood collection, medication administration, endo- and ectoparasite identification
- occupational health and safety
- Annual attendance at the NRMB AALAS meeting is recommended
- Biennial site visit to an AAALAC-accredited laboratory animal facility
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