Are sliding doors acceptable in genetic engineering laboratories?
Dr. Christian Klein
Large-scale genetic engineering laboratories with adjacent evaluation zones are often designed with sliding doors; the design of escape routes is particularly important in this regard.
In the AGCT-Genetic Engineering.report 01/2023 The topic of genetic engineering safety requirements was discussed in relation to the increasingly established open-plan laboratories and with regard to sound insulation requirements. The advantages of open-plan laboratories are plausible not only in terms of synergistic space utilization, but – with appropriate design of the evaluation zone – also in terms of communicative interaction and shortened routes between evaluation and experimental zones (wet lab). Therefore, the evaluation zones are often arranged as a parallel "band" of office space flanking the wet lab area (see example illustration). 
To ensure an open view between the office and the genetic engineering wet lab, a set of sliding glass doors (red) is used to access the experimental zone. The view into the wet lab area should be as unobstructed as possible, and to save space, hinged doors are avoided.
But are such designs justifiable in relation to the requirements of genetic engineering? The Genetic Engineering Safety Ordinance (GenTSV) states the following in Annex 2 (to Section 14), A. 1 (4): Laboratory doors should open in the direction of escape and be equipped with viewing windows for personal protection. Similar wording can be found in TRBA 100 under Section 5.2.1 (3). There, for activities starting at protection level 1, it is stated: *Depending on the laboratory's use, the doors should open in the direction of escape and be equipped with a viewing window for personal protection.*
Both GenTSV and TRBA 100 thus cite the logic of corresponding occupational health and safety and fire protection regulations. Only an outward-opening door ensures that inadvertent barricading is prevented, even in panic and congestion situations. Therefore, sliding doors explicitly cannot be used in the direction of escape routes. Therefore, the open-plan laboratory concept must include a sufficient number of alternative doors that open in the direction of escape routes and comply with these requirements.
Conclusion : Since increased hazards are to be expected not only in large-scale chemical-physical laboratories, but also in large-scale genetic engineering and molecular biology laboratories, due to the hazardous substances used, escape routes must also be provided there via outward-opening doors. Sliding doors can, however, be used as additional access options.
