Abstract:
University biorisk management infrastructure in Kenya is poorly developed despite the rapid
emergence of highly infectious diseases. Similarly, life scientists at universities (students,
lecturers, and laboratory technologists) have been indicted in incidences of fatal and nonfatal
injuries. The main objective of the study was to determine if there is a linear relationship
between the biorisk knowledge levels and the Biological Risk Management Level of university
bioscience laboratories. It was part of a larger doctoral study that investigated the predictors of
biorisk management. The study design was a quantitative, descriptive survey type and was
delivered through a survey by both the researchers and online to 1300 university students,
lecturers, and laboratory technologists with a response rate of 79.5%. A questionnaire designed
to capture independent variable (level of biorisk knowledge of life scientists) and dependent
variable (Biorisk Management Level) scores were used. Excel and IBM SPSS software assisted
in computing analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficients, and simple linear
regression analysis. Data were summarized as tables and other descriptive statistics. A majority
(55.4%) of the respondents did not exhibit high biorisk knowledge. Less than half (45.6%) of the
respondents reported high biorisk knowledge. Simple linear regression analysis revealed that
21.9% of the variation in Biological Risk Management Level at the universities was explained by
variation in biorisk knowledge (R Square= .219, p<0.001). It was concluded that as biorisk
knowledge increases so does the biorisk management level. To improve biorisk management at
the universities, there is a need to develop biorisk knowledge of life scientists. Universities and other key partners should develop the capacity of life scientists in biorisk knowledge while future
studies should consider other types of knowledge other than self-rated knowledge.
