CIRS-LAS - Critical Incidence Reporting System - Laboratory Animal Science
Error Culture in Laboratory Animal Science
The term "error culture" refers to the way in which companies, facilities, or individuals deal with mistakes and their resulting consequences. For example, in environments with a non-existent or weak error culture, errors are not properly communicated, eventually leading to their repetition.
In a good and open error culture, on the other hand, errors are communicated openly in order to find their causes and develop potential solutions. A key point is a certain degree of anonymity in order to encourage employees not to conceal mistakes and to actively participate in the communication process.
Accordingly, an adequate error culture is also an important step for facilities that work with laboratory animals. By openly communicating errors, animal welfare can be strengthened, the repetition of failed experiments can be prevented, and the number of animals can be reduced.
To this end Dr. Sabine Bischoff, head of the Animal Welfare Unit at the University Hospital of Jena in Germany, presented her project CIRS-LAS during the 3R Days 2021 in November. CIRS-LAS is a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research since 2017, which is intended to serve as a reporting platform for critical incidents and errors in animal research, based on the CIRS reporting systems already in use for critical incidences in patient care.
What is CIRS-LAS?
CIRS-LAS is a web-based anonymous reporting system for the recording and
analysis of unplanned events in animal experimental research, developed
along the lines of the CIRS reporting systems (Critical Incidence
Reporting System) used in patient care. The aim of CIRS-LAS is to establish a constructive and
transparent error culture.
In the following 3-minute video, the founders of the CIRS-LAS platform
explain their motivation for creating the reporting system and how it
is supposed to ensure greater animal welfare in preclinical research. The video is recorded in German. For non-German speaking visitors, more information can be found on the English FAQ page of CIRS LAS.
How can incidents be reported?
How can case reports be researched?
Members who have previously registered at
https://www.cirs-las.de/register can view all case reports and also
comment on them. CIRS-LAS ensures that this area is limited to people working with laboratory animals by verifying
submitted data during the registration process.
Further information about CIRS-LAS can be found on the portal`s
homepage: cirs-las.de
In addition, CIRS-LAS also has a separate area for
frequently asked questions: cirs-las.de/project/faq
For questions, suggestions or comments, interested visitors can contact the following e-mail address: info@cirs-las.de
References
1 Bischoff S, Trietschel D, Enkelmann A, Schiffner R, Estrade P, et al. (2018) Learning from Negative Results-Critical Incident Reporting System in Laboratory Animal Science (CIRS-LAS.de). J Anim Res Vet Sci 2: 009. http://dx.doi.org/10.24966/ARVS-3751/100009
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