The AWRs and PHS Policy require that all animal study areas and animal facilities be inspected.
The definition of a “study area” according to the AWRs is as follows:
“Study area means any building room, area, enclosure, or other containment outside of a core facility or centrally designated or managed area in which animals are housed for more than 12 hours.”
PHS Policy uses the term “animal facility” instead of “study area.” PHS Policy defines an “animal facility” as follows:
“Any and all buildings, rooms, areas, enclosures, or vehicles, including satellite facilities, used for animal confinement, transport, maintenance, breeding, or experiments inclusive of surgical manipulation. A satellite facility is any containment outside of a core facility or centrally designated or managed area in which animals are housed for more than 24 hours.”

Because the 12-hour occupancy standard in the AWRs is more stringent than the 24 hour standard in PHS Policy, the 12-hour occupancy is the default standard for determining if a room should be considered an animal housing or animal study room.
Although animal facility rooms usually house animals 24 hours a day, these definitions matter because any and all holding rooms or laboratories that keep animals for more than 12 hours at a time qualify as “study areas” and must be evaluated during the semiannual facilities inspection.

To summarize, the following areas must be included in the facilities inspection:
• All buildings, rooms, areas, enclosures or vehicles used for animal confinement, transport, maintenance or breeding;
• All areas housing animals for more than 12 hours; and
• All laboratories in which experiments on animals are performed, including surgical manipulations.

It is not uncommon for inexperienced IACUCs to neglect investigator laboratories when planning facility inspections. To help prevent this oversight, it is often a best practice to ask for this information on animal protocol forms so an accurate list of relevant laboratory areas can be generated.