ABSTRACT
The specific requirements of an institution will define the complexity for the system of policies and procedures. Often regarded as a necessary evil produced to appease authorities, there is growing awareness in many laboratory animal resource units that SOPs provide an essential foundation for the production of reliable data for decision making and regulatory purposes (5). Thus, SOPs have grown from efforts to ensure correctness and uniformity of processes and procedures. The resultant compliance with regulations and other requirements reduces human error, and has the secondary benefits of increasing efficiency and reducing costs (6).
