Mandatory and Voluntary Reporting of Laboratory Incidents

Under the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act (the Act), only licenced facilities may conduct controlled activities with human pathogens and toxins in Canada. Once licensed, you must report all incidents involving Risk Groups 2, 3 and 4 human pathogens and toxins to the Public Health Agency of Canada in the following instances:

•        exposures and suspected or confirmed laboratory-acquired infections or intoxications
•        inadvertent possession, production or release of a human pathogen or toxin
•        missing, lost or stolen human pathogens or toxins, including security sensitive biological agents not received within 24 hours of expected arrival

You must report these incidents without delay to meet your notification obligation under the Act and Regulations. Report incidents by completing the standardized form in the online Biosecurity Portal.

In some cases, reporting is voluntary and isn’t required under the Act, such as incidents involving:

•        primary specimens
•        pathogens that aren’t Risk Groups 2, 3 and 4 or toxins
•        unlicensed laboratories operating out of the scope of the Act

We encourage you to report these types of events, whether you’re licenced or not.

In November 2021, we updated the Biosecurity Portal to support voluntary reporting by active licence holders. Non-licence holders can submit voluntary reports by email to biosafety.biosecurite@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

This data allows Laboratory Incident Notification Canada to assess the magnitude and risk of various types of incidents, and helps stakeholders mitigate the risks in these scenarios. In 2022, 32 voluntary reports and 113 mandatory reports were submitted.

For more information on incident reporting, please refer to the Canadian Biosafety Guideline:

       Notification and Reporting under the Act and Regulations using the Reporting Module of the Biosecurity Portal