• Biosafety cabinets must be decontaminated and the outer surfaces cleaned with a suitable disinfectant; decontamination must be done by a certified professional. Currently, Stanford University contracts with an outside vendor for this; call the vendor (number is found at https://ehs.stanford.edu/topic/biosafety-biosecurity) to schedule an appointment. The Principal Investigator should present a receipt verifying that the paraformaldehyde decontamination procedure has been completed by the contracted biosafety cabinet certifier.
• Storage freezers should be emptied and the surfaces should be decontaminated with a suitable disinfectant. The former contents must be decontaminated by autoclaving or disposed of in a biohazard bag. Cryostats and liquid nitrogen storage equipment must also be emptied and contents properly disposed of. If the Principal Investigator intends to stay at Stanford but not continue the APB approved project, then only the biological agents that were approved for use on the application need to be disposed.
• Account for all specimens stored outside the lab room. Specimens stored in a cold room or an incubator in an adjacent tissue culture room should be autoclaved or disposed of in a biohazard bag.
• Medical waste such as used sharps containers or biohazard bags must be disposed of and the storage areas for the medical waste cleaned with a suitable disinfectant.
• Any biohazard labels must be removed from surfaces. The outer surface of all equipment and any work surface must be decontaminated with a suitable disinfectant.
• The Biohazard/Universal Precautions signs must be removed from door.

An autoclave is suitable for the treatment of certain types of medical waste but not all types. The following items of medical waste must not be autoclaved:

• Items of medical waste which are mixed with volatile chemical solvents or radioactive materials (this waste must be handled as either chemical waste or radioactive waste).
• Pathological waste (pathological waste is handled as follows: animal carcasses are placed in a biohazard bag and taken to the pathological waste freezers in the Research Animal Facility; human body parts are placed in a biohazard bag and disposed of as medical waste without autoclaving).