All personnel who work with or care for animals in research or teaching are federally mandated to demonstrate the skills and knowledge to properly care for and handle animals to ensure animal well-being and personnel safety.
Regulatory training for animal care and use at WVU is done through the CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) program and is required for all personnel who work with or care for animals in research or teaching, and any student enrolled in a course that uses live animals.
This training must be updated every three years (every five years for undergraduate students). Records of regulatory training are maintained by CITI and accessible by the Office of Animal Welfare.
Anyone working with animals in any setting is required to complete the Occupational Health Questionnaire, which needs to be updated on an ANNUAL BASIS. Records of occupational health clearance are maintained by WVU Occupational Medicine.
Occupational Health Questionnaire
Visit the Occupational Health Questionnaire and complete the form. If you receive a notice that you are NOT cleared for animal contact, please call WVU Occupational Medicine at (304) 293-3693 OR call Well WVU (Student Health) (304) 293-2311 if you are a student.
All animal users and caretakers who enter central animal facilities with Office of Laboratory Animal Resources (OLAR) oversight must receive facility training by the Director or assigned staff of the facility.
This includes Health Sciences Center, Life Science Building, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, or Farm Animal Research Facility. Records of facility training are maintained by OLAR.
Visit the OLAR website for their training schedule and instructions, under "Training & Education". If you have further questions, contact OLAR at (304) 293-3737 or OLARtraining@hsc.wvu.edu.
All animal users and caretakers are required to have appropriate training for the handling and husbandry of the species used, as relevant to the nature of the animal use and specific procedures that they will be performing on/with animals.
This training may be provided by veterinary staff, animal care staff, course instructor or Principal Investigator/laboratory staff, as appropriate.
Training records for all personnel with regards to protocol/procedure specific training and species-specific should be maintained by the PI/supervisor/lab and be easily accessible.
We have two templates that can be used or modified for the purposes of maintaining protocol/procedure specific training (please note that BOTH are not needed, you can choose what works best for you):
Additional training, such as biohazard training, radiation safety training or chemical safety training, may be required depending the nature of your animal work. Please contact the appropriate office for more information:
Biosafety Training Radiation Safety Training Environmental and Safety Training
