Safety Featured Articles

1. Introducing Cold Chain Manager - Unique Technology For Clinical Trial And Drug Development Shipments 11/1/2013

   Quick's IT team has made another innovative upgrade to our online customer platform (QuickOnlineRx) to help monitor temperature-sensitive shipments. By Eric Bischoff, Chief Information Technology Officer, Quick International Courier

2. Heating And Cooling A Laboratory: Important Considerations For Equipment And Design 10/1/2013

   ASHRAE Standard 55-2004 determines the temperature, humidity and airflow which the average worker is comfortable; and though people in many industries have the luxury of dressing for the seasons, laboratory workers are usually burdened with an extra layer or two of protective garb. So, room atmosphere considerations also need to take into account that many laboratories have their own requirements as to temperature, humidity and airflow (ventilation). All of this adds up to a laboratory having very strict conditions of the facility’s internal air quality. By Brian Garrett, LEED Green Associate, Product Specialist, Labconco Corporation

3. Origin Of Biological Safety Cabinets: The Evolution Of Human Inclination 10/1/2013

   The Purifier Logic®+ design team scrutinized every biological safety cabinet, intent on finding, designing and integrating the best possible features. The Result? Decidedly the most extensive human factors package, Inclination™ Technology, and the MyLogic™ Operating System. By Brian Garrett, Labconco Product Manager and Scott Anthony Patterson, Labconco Web Content Supervisor

4. Tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), Containment Equipment & Laboratories 9/28/2013

   The respiratory infectious disease once known as ‘consumption’ is an infection caused by the bacterial complex tubercle bacilli — TB (tuberculosis forming members of the genus Mycobacterium). Highly contagious with an infective dose of less than 10 bacilli, over 20 million cases of Tuberculoses are estimated world-wide. This represents fewer than 10% of the total TB carriers. (National Institute of Health, 2009) By Brian Garrett, LEED Green Associate, Product Specialist, Labconco Corporation

5. Glove Boxes: The Effects Of Gas Permeation And Equilibrium 9/11/2013

   Controlled Atmosphere Glove Boxes are designed to contain an internal inert gas environment, purified to some level. How to achieve the gas purities requires understanding a few fundamental concerns related to the chemistry and physics of gases. Most often misunderstood, and/or overlooked, are the properties of gas permeation and equilibrium. Physics describes permeation as the movement or penetration of gas molecules through a solid substance. All solid materials (glass, plastics and steel) are permeable to some degree. This includes the material used in constructing glove boxes. By Bob Applequist, Product Manager, Labconco Corporation

6. Is Your Lab As Safe As It Should Be? (Part 3 Of 4) 9/10/2013

   These headlines involving laboratory safety issues are not making the national news agencies, so the general population as well as laboratory personnel are not aware of the number of incidents that are actually occurring in laboratories. Lack of proper training certainly plays a role in these incidents, but most importantly, it is a lack of daily compliance to safe laboratory practices. Non-compliance is easy when you are not aware of the consequences. Because we are not hearing of these "lab incidents" it is easy to take shortcuts and not consistently follow standard lab protocols that ensure our safety. Constantly hearing about horrific traffic accidents keeps us clicking our seatbelts, so maybe if we were more aware of actual cases where negative consequences occurred because of lack of safety compliance, we would make it a higher priority. By Kelly Williams, Market Analyst

7. What's The Best Way To Concentrate Samples? 9/1/2013

   There simply is not one correct answer to that question. Freeze drying, evaporating or concentrating samples is frequently a labor intensive, time-consuming step that can have a great effect on results. Concentrating a sample is often the last step before analysis. It is extremely valuable as a result of the time and money already invested. Concentration involves trial and error to determine the best method to evaporate a sample and is dependent on several factors. By Kelly Williams, Market Analyst, Labconco Corporation

8. Does That Lab Really Need An Explosion-Proof Fume Hood? 8/8/2013

   We receive many requests from customers for explosion-proof (EP) fume hoods. Customers often think that if they are working with a flammable chemical they automatically need an EP hood. In reality, only a small percentage of customers really need EP fume hoods. By Luke Savage, LEED Green Associate, Sales Engineer, Labconco Corporation

9. Survey Says: Comfort Improves Safety (Part 1 of 4) 8/6/2013

   Between May and June 2013, fifty-three (53) laboratory managers and professionals were polled on LinkedIn to gauge the importance of the correlation between comfort and safety. Of those respondents, 49 (92%) indicated that comfort does increase laboratory safety. By Brian Garrett, LEED Green Associate, Product Manager

10. 9 Steps To Remember When Performing A Supply Chain Risk Assessment

    This article provides practical tools for creating a risk assessment procedure related to Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines.