The Laboratory Facility

An appropriate general ventilation system (see C4 below) with air intakes and exhausts located so as to avoid intake of contaminated air (194)  

Other safety equipment including eyewash fountains and drench showo-s (162,169) and Arrangements for waste disposal (12, 240). 

Maintenance. Chemical-hygiene-related equipment (hoods, incinCTator, etc.) should undergo continual 

The work conducted (10) and its scale (12) must be appropriate to the physical facOities available and, 

General laboratory ventilation. This system should Provide a source of air for breathing and for input to local ventilation devices (199) it should not be relied on for protection from toxic substances released into the laboratory (198) ensure that laboratory air is continually replaced, preventing increase of air concentrations of toxic substances during the working day (194) direct air flow into the laboratory from non-laboratory areas 

---

Referring to the questions in Chapter 3, Questions 1, 2, and 3 can be answered NO for this example, assuming chemical reactions, mixing, and physical processing are not intended to be part of the laboratory facilities. Question 4 should be answered YES, since oxygen is considered hazardous as an oxidizing gas. 

When a new SOP is to be written or when an outdated one is to be revised, some very important protocols must be considered. First, the scientists who will be conducting the work must be involved. They are most familiar with the laboratory facilities and equipment and can most likely provide very useful input. Second, a standard format must be followed so that all SOPs look alike and provide information the company employees and laboratory auditors expect. The format typically includes a document number, a descriptive title, a revision number, an effective date, a statement of purpose, a statement of scope, the procedure itself, references (such as the... 

Clearly, the commercial or consultancy laboratory that tests sub-samples of a marketed product worth millions of pounds, or assesses the purity of pharmaceuticals, or analyses forensic samples, must have far higher levels of both accuracy and verifiability than student practical classes. There should, however, always be an effort to produce the most accurate and reliable results within the constraints of the laboratory facilities available, otherwise a lax attitude will produce work of doubtful interpretation that could mislead others, as well as giving little job satisfaction. Several books, which are more suited to the commercial sector, have been written on the quality of laboratory analysis, however some quality assurance practices could be beneficial in the smaller laboratory. A useful open-learning style book on basic concepts of quality in the analytical laboratory has been co-authored by staff at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (Crosby et ai, 1995). 

The uncertainty applicable to a measurement contains components for repeatability and reproducibility [9,19, 20], caused in part by variability of measurement-relevant parameters. The uncertainty also depends on the individual making the measurement, the laboratory facilities used, and the environment during the measurement. Without some quality control over measurements, statements on relevant traceability can have little meaning. Such controls provide a laboratory with confidence in its operators and credibility to the outside. 

The QAU must perform routine internal audits to assure that the laboratory facilities are in compliance. Internal audits should include calibration procedures and records, chemical and reagent labeling and expiration dating, and laboratory record keeping and data handling. 

The wide range of molecular techniques available and the rapid pace of new developments make it difficult for an individual to stay apprised of all aspects of the field that might impinge on the research at hand. For this reason, other researchers involved in molecular genetics are a key element of the local environment. This may include other members of the same research group, scientists who share the laboratory facility, or others doing various kinds of molecular genetics research at the same or nearby institutions. The collective molecular expertise in the local environment (and how well one can hope to make use of it) should be carefully assessed, and it may influence decisions on the choice of technique and the scope of research envisioned. 

In this chapter, we begin by describing the laboratory facilities and equipment needed for biochemical and molecular biological work. This is followed by advice on safe working in the laboratory, and discussion of the safety regulations that usually apply in a biochemistry laboratory. We describe a range of common laboratory activities, but do not include some important topics, such as chromatography, electrophoresis and photometric methods, which are considered later in specific chapters. The chapter concludes with a description of radioactive methods, and advice about alternatives to the use of radioactivity. 

A chemist engaged in research may need data or methods which are not found in the literature. Conditions may be such that any laboratory work on his part to obtain the information would be too lengthy, too costly, or impossible with the laboratory facilities available. In any of these instances, he would do well to correspond with other chemists who may have done this work. A search for unpublished data may also reveal why certain data are not available one may find that a method of experimentation gave negative results. 

Having discussed with the responsible person in the laboratory what it is that you want or expect from the laboratory facilities, you must come to an agreement over what activities you will do yourself, how much supervision you will need and what work the laboratory is required to do for you. Charges, if any, must be agreed and approved in advance. The level of charges will inevitably have some effect upon the decisions made about the work that can be done and who is to do it. 

There are two aspects of laboratory plumbing system design, as opposed to operations, which are relevant to safety and health. The first is the capacity of the system to withstand the waste stream which the system may be called upon to handle. The second is the need to prevent the operations within the laboratory facility from feeding back into and contaminating the potable water system that supplies the building. 

Several pultmsion companies use Barcol hardness testers to assess the degree of cure of the produced parts. This enables the tracing of products with insufficient degree of cure of the resin matrix, which leads to lower mechanical performance. The quality control of pultruded produced parts can also include other mechanical characterisation tests which can sometimes be carried out in the laboratory facilities of pultrusion companies. EN 13706-3 (CEN, 2002) defines two grades of FRP pultruded profiles, specifying minimum values for material properties and the relevant test methods. The requirements for certain applications (e.g. petroleum and natural gas industries) can be stricter and often include aspects related to fire reaction and fire resistance behaviour, e.g. NBR 15708-1 (ABNT, 2011). 

It is to be expected that the personal choice of the worker, the particular type of problem in question, and the laboratory facilities available wiU all play a role in the selection of the specific procedures for biological assay for the further characterization of the compound or fraction at hand. Finally, it must be admitted that some of these assay procedures are subject to considerable variation, causing a rather appreciable error of assay. However, such data do provide unequivocal proof to the worker that his product, whether it is of biological or chemical origin, possesses a certain unmistakable biological activity. It is to be understood, of course, that such data do not establish the identity of the compound in tests with any of the reference compounds. 

If possible, tests should be made in a small laboratory that contains a minimum of equipment and that can easily be cleaned down and disinfected. The amount of preparation, cleaning and disinfection necessary will depend to a large extent on the laboratory facilities available—whether there is a supply of sterile air, etc.—but whatever the conditions, operators must scrub up and must disinfect their hands and forearms with a... 

---