Partial Containment

Published February 2000

An enclosure which is constructed so that contamination between its interior and the surroundings is minimized by the controlled movement of air. Class I and Class II safety cabinets are examples. With partial containment a small percentage of the aerosol in the cabinet (usually less than 0.01 to 0.0001 percent) can escape into the laboratory. In many cases it takes a significant number of organisms—1,000 or more—to cause an infection. Therefore, the escape of a very small number is allowable.