BioRAFT is now SciShield!
UMB’s transition is scheduled for 9 am Tuesday 8/15/23. UMB's instance of the platform will be down for 1 hour that morning. Any umaryland.bioraft.com URL will redirect to umaryland.scishield.com automatically.
- Contact EHS to ensure your lab is appropriately registered with the system. We will send you an invitation containing a login link.
- Use your UMID to log in.
- You will be prompted to complete the General Lab Setup Wizard and update your lab’s information.
You will then be prompted with the first screen for the Laboratory Registration Wizard. Should you wish to delegate this task to a trusted member of your laboratory, click the “Delegate Now” link during the General Lab Setup Wizard. Otherwise, click on “Continue to Laboratory Setup.”
This information will include:
- Confirming your contact information
- Note that your contact information here refers to your office space. Some information will be pre-populated.
- Confirming your spaces
- This refers to physical locations of your lab spaces and should include shared facilities as well.
- Choosing a lab category
- Research lab, clinical lab, shared facility, etc.
- Inputting a research focus
- This should be a short description of your research (optional).
- Identifying your lab hazards
- Choose any that apply in your lab spaces.
- Adding lab members
- Add lab members by typing their names. BioRAFT will match what you type with the UMB directory. If you have issues, see Help Topic on Adding group members below. Make sure you click “Lookup/Add” to submit your selection.
- Designating lab member roles
- Use the pulldown options to designate roles. As an option, you can check the Group Compliance Liaison box to allow a lab member to receive inspection reports and respond to findings. The principal investigator will still continue to receive all communication.
- Confirming your contact information
- That’s it, once your lab is registered with BioRAFT, you will occasionally receive emails prompting you to update your lab members and hazards as well as to review and respond to safety inspection reports.
1. You will be notified of a new inspection report by email. You can access this report by using the link embedded in the email.
2. Alternatively, you can access all lab inspections by clicking on “Lab Inspections” from your lab profile after logging into SciShield (formerly BioRAFT) and clicking on the inspection that you would like to review.
3. Review listed findings carefully and resolve them as instructed. If you have questions about how to resolve any finding, contact EHS at 410-706-7055 to speak to the audit team for clarification.
4. If you have not yet confirmed receipt of the inspection, click “Confirm Receipt”
5. Complete the correspondence box to communicate with the audit team.
6. Use the Resolved Findings pull-down menu to identify findings that have been resolved.
7. An Additional Comments box will also appear where you can add additional information on how you resolved specific findings.
8. Review your responses and click Submit to return the report for inspector review.
1. On your lab profile, click on the Members tab to manage your lab members.
2. Add lab members by typing their names. SciShield (formerly BioRAFT) will match what you type with the UMB directory. 
3. (Optional) Supervisors or principal investigators can delegate responsibility for safety to one or more individuals working in the lab. In SciShield, these individuals are identified as “Group Compliance Liaison.” More than one Group Compliance Liaison may be chosen per lab.
4. Assign job activities and hazards to particular lab members. Scroll through the tabs to access Animal, Chemical, Radiological, and Physical Hazards as well.
5. Click “Lookup/Add” to submit your selection.
1. My lab member does not appear when I try to add them to my lab.
SciShield (formerly BioRAFT) will match what you type with the UMB directory. If the lab member you are trying to add is not in the directory (volunteer, visiting scientist, new employee), their name will not populate. Please contact EHS at ehsaudits@umaryland.edu with the name of the person you are trying to add and their role so we can investigate the issue.
If you are sure the person you are trying to add is a University employee, note that the search function has a small lag and takes a second to complete the search. The gray circle to the right of the search box will flash blue when it is searching.
Other common issues:
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- You have clicked elsewhere on the page after typing the person’s name, instead of remaining in the search box.
- You have typed extra spaces after the name before the search could complete. For example “John”, “Smith”, “John Smith” will work, but “John_”, “Smith_”, or “John_Smith___” may not work.
2. I cannot access my lab’s inspection report.
If you are a lab manager or other responsible party who has been assigned to respond to the audit, and you are using the inspection report link from your principal investigator, you may not have been assigned yet as the Group Compliance Liaison, which is the role you need to see and respond to audit findings. Contact EHS at ehsaudits@umaryland.edu to request the role be added and copy your supervisor on the email to identify the proper lab.
If you are the principal investigator and have successfully logged in using your UMID but still cannot access your inspection report, please contact EHS at ehsaudits@umaryland.edu.
3. I’m not sure how to resolve a finding/I do not agree with a finding.
See the section on Additional Information on Audit Findings. If you are still unsure or require more information, contact EHS at ehsaudits@umaryland.edu for guidance.
4. Where do I respond to my audit findings?
If you have access to the inspection report, scroll to the bottom of the page, where you will see a Correspondence box. Check one of the options and add any additional comments in the comment box. Make sure to hit Submit. You will see a message that your comment has been posted.
If an inspector determines that we require additional information, you will be notified by email.