Lab worker wearing lab coat, safety goggles and using a pipette on a blue green background.

Exposure Incident Trends in the Public Health Sector

The public health sector is comprised of government organizations with a principal area of focus on:

  • scientific research
  • diagnostics
  • quality control
  • vaccine manufacturing
  • disease and illness surveillance

Between January 1, 2016, and September 30, 2025, 56 of the 573 mandatory exposure reports (9.8%) submitted to Laboratory Incident Notification Canada came from the public health sector. Trends in exposure incidents in the public health sector (including the agent type, root cause, occurrence type and route of exposure) were consistent with general exposure incident patterns, with a few differences:

  • bacteria were reported as the agent type in 77.6% of public health sector exposure incidents compared to 55.6% across all sectors
  • inhalation as the route of exposure occurred in 80.1% of public health sector exposure incidents versus 60.9% across all sectors
  • affected persons with a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of education represented 41.9% in the public health sector compared to 22.7% across all sectors
  • nearly all affected individuals were technicians or technologists (91.2%) compared with 72.13% across all sectors
  • the median years of laboratory experience among affected persons was 11 years in the public health sector versus 7 years across all sectors

To help reduce the occurrence of exposure incidents, all licence holders are encouraged to take advantage of the various training and knowledge-sharing resources available through the Public Health Agency of Canada Training Portal.

The Agency provides access to biosafety e-learning courses, produces bulletins and annual reports and hosts webinars on topics that are relevant to licence holders.

Remember that reporting exposure incidents to the Agency is mandatory under section 13 of the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act. These reports support the Agency’s oversight responsibilities. While the Centre for Biosecurity may take compliance and enforcement actions when incidents are not reported, the intent of the reporting requirement is to reduce under-reporting and maintain transparent communications between you and the Agency. Not reporting an exposure incident is an offence and may lead to enforcement actions in accordance with the Centre for Biosecurity Compliance and Enforcement Policy.