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Debra Sharpe Joins WorkingBuildings

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Atlanta engineering firm WorkingBuildings continues its growth by welcoming Laboratory Services and Compliance Director Debra Sharpe, CCHO, MPH, RBP.

Sharpe will be bringing her expertise in laboratory regulatory compliance and in the operations and management of high-containment laboratories to the laboratory division of WorkingBuildings. She will work closely with laboratory designers, owners and operators to participate in the laboratory design and review process for new or renovated facilities to deliver the best product to the client that meets the needs of the facility in a cost effective manner while ensuring their compliance with regulating authorities. Prior to this position, Sharpe worked for Southern Research Institute for eight years as the Director of Compliance and Security in addition to being President of BioSafety Solutions, LLC (BSL), a wholly owned laboratory compliance consulting company.

“Debra has spent many years developing biosafety and compliance laboratory programs for such respected entities as Southern Research Institute,” said Michael Weiss, president of WorkingBuildings. “We are very pleased that she will be providing these services within our worldwide laboratory program.”

Her experience includes biosafety and biosecurity program management and Select Agent registration, ongoing facilities maintenance, standard operating protocol review, gap analysis, risk threat analysis, and facility management and operations for laboratories.

She has developed comprehensive management programs for institutional regulatory compliance including all aspects of OSHA and EPA regulations, laboratory safety, accident and incident tracking, and a web-based system to track compliance that includes documenting training and medical surveillance.

Having previously launched a third-party commissioning program for Auburn University, Sharpe will be providing additional leadership for the WorkingBuildings laboratory commissioning teams.

One of Sharpe’s first assignments will be in managing the delivery of all compliance and safety aspects for the New Jersey Public Health, Environmental and Agriculture Laboratories. “The NJPHEAL is a very complex, multi agency, multi protocol laboratory that includes BSL-3 containment spaces for both public health and agricultural services,” said Sharpe. “As the operations team for this facility, we play a significant role in creating a smooth, seamless transition from the former space to the new laboratory.”

WorkingBuildings laboratory division has had an influential role since the design phase of the NJPHEAL. The laboratory division joined the project providing a wide array of services including standard operating procedure development, threat analysis, risk mitigation, commissioning, inventory control, and management of certifications. Having built a relationship of trust with the State of New Jersey, WorkingBuildings was ultimately contracted to provide operations and maintenance for the 200,000 SF facility.