Important Information About Our Upcoming AAALAC Site Visit

Mark your calendars! The FSU triennial AAALAC reaccreditation site visit is scheduled for November 15-16, 2022. AAALAC International has continuously accredited the FSU Animal Care and Use Program since 2002. AAALAC International is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programs.

During our two-day visit, the site visit team will tour LAR facilities, investigator-maintained animal housing areas, and laboratories where animals are used. Additionally, the team will perform extensive document and medical record review. Remember, this is not an inspection – it is a peer assessment of our animal program! Our goal for the 2022 site visit is to be commended as an EXEMPLARY Animal Care and Use Program. Achieving exemplary will require everyone’s commitment.

Here is how you can help…

• Do not stop your animal work during the visit. You have work to do. Do it! In fact, the site visit team will want to see people working. Follow procedures for the use of personnel protective equipment and animal transport. Do not leave post-surgical animals unattended. The team will ask many questions. Be open, transparent, and honest. Provide the necessary information, but do not provide extraneous information. If you don’t know the answer to a particular question, admit you do not know and offer to find the answer.
• Review your Animal Use Protocol. Know what is described in your protocol. If there are discrepancies between your protocol and actual procedures performed in your laboratory, submit a protocol modification immediately. Expect the site visitors to compare actual procedures with those described in your protocol.
• Be prepared to discuss your participation in the Occupational Health Program. Site visitors typically ask how participants enroll in the Program and methods for reporting workplace injuries, including allergies. Remember, protocol personnel with direct animal contact enroll in the Occupational Health Program by completing the FSU Medical Monitoring Program for Vertebrate Animal Users Enrollment and Risk Assessment Form. You must complete the FSU Medical Monitoring Program for Vertebrate Animal Users Enrollment and Risk Assessment Form every three years.
• Familiarize yourself with and follow LAR and ACUC policies and guidelines. LAR policies are available at https://lar.fsu.edu/policies-procedures/. ACU policies are available at https://www.research.fsu.edu/research-offices/acuc/policies_guidelines/. Site visitors will be provided copies of all policies and guidelines and will observe for compliance.
• Please clean your area, especially the surgery and procedure areas. Sanitation is minor, but if we cannot demonstrate attention to cleanliness, the team may wonder what other aspects of our Program are left unattended.
• Ensure adequate documentation and labeling. Make sure surgery records are available, complete, and consistent with your Animal Use Protocol and the ACUC Peri-Operative Records Policy. Ensure analgesia administration is documented. Make training records easily accessible. Chemicals and drugs used in animals must be labeled and dated accordingly. Properly dispose of expired materials.
• We have identified a representative sample of investigator laboratories to visit. Please be available during your scheduled laboratory visit. Again, the site visitors will ask many questions. Be open, transparent, and honest. Provide the necessary information, but do not provide extraneous information. If you don’t know the answer to a particular question, admit you don’t know and offer to find the answer.