![]()
Ranging from mild respiratory allergy to anaphylaxis, laboratory animal allergy (LAA) can adversely affect an individual’s health and career. LAA can be prevented through a hierarchy of controls. However, workers remain at risk as many, if not most, workplaces have not fully adopted needed prevention practices. To address this risk, organizations should use a multidisciplinary leadership team. Along with participation on the leadership team, occupational medicine physicians should oversee a medical surveillance program that identifies workers with LAA including incident cases, as well as workers with LAA who are symptomatic in the workplace. This guidance statement addresses the causes of allergy, approaches to exposure control, occupational medicine programs for animal research related to allergy including medical surveillance, and a programmatic approach to worker protection through prevention.