Lab Equipment
Lab Equipment Information and Resources Heading link
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BioSafety Cabinets
Recertification of Biosafety Cabinets
- LabMetrics is recommended for the recertifcation of BSC’s
Decontamination of Biosafety Cabinets
It is an industry regulation that Biological Safety Cabinets must be decontaminated prior to a move. The regulation is in place to protect anyone involved with moving the equipment.
- LabMetrics is recommended for the decontamination of old BSC’s.
- UIC Pipefitters will need to disconnect the Vacuum line before the decontamination. The lab will need to submit a service request at Request Service.
- Before the decontamination, the Lab will need to post the Laboratory Safety and Maintenance Checklist that the BSC has been surface decontaminated.
- The department will need to work with Property Accounting for disposal of the old BSC, prior to requesting that the UIC Movers dispose of it.
- UIC Carpenters should be included on the Mover work order because the old hood may need to be dismantled in order to fit through the door
How to Move an Existing Biological Safety Cabinet to a New Location
- Empty the BSC.
- Surface disinfect the interior & exterior of BSC with 70% EtOH or 10% bleach.
- Complete, print & sign EHSO “Lab Service & Maintenance Checklist” and post on BSC.
- Submit billable FM request to UIC Pipefitters to disconnect any hard-piped lines, e.g. Vacuum.
- Issue Purchase Order to LabMetrics (or vendor of your choice) to decontaminate the BSC. Patti Faber will provide quote (~$650), pattif@labmetricsinc.com. Note: Pipefitters must have disconnected BSC prior to decontamination.
- Submit billable FM request for both UIC Carpenters and UIC Movers to move BSC to new location. Note: Carpenters are needed on day of the move to detach the cabinet from the stand, as well as to remove/rehang room doors if necessary.
- Once BSC is in new position, submit billable FM request to UIC Pipefitters to connect Vacuum line (alternately this step could be included in the earlier Pipefitter request).
- Contact LabMetrics/Vendor to get BSC recertified (~$150).
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CO2 Incubators
- Good step-by-step instructions can be found in the incubator manual specific to that make/model. Draining the water jacket is not difficult but it can take several hours per unit. Some models can contain up to 19 gallons of water and it can only drain out so fast.
- UIC Movers will not move incubators unless the jackets have been emptied. Attempting to move an incubator without emptying the jacket can damage the seals on the incubator.
- The incubator will have a drain port. Occasionally this is the same as the fill port, but often they are different.
- For some models there is a special fitting required to make a leak-proof connection between the drain port and the tubing. If required, this is key as that volume of water could cause quite a flood.
- The easiest method is to have the tubing go into a floor drain or a sink. However, because a sink drain is not as low as a floor drain, if the incubator is located on a floor (for example, the lower unit in a double-stacked set-up), you may need to use a flat pan to get the remaining water out, towards the end.
- The initial challenge can be how to get the water flowing out of the incubator. Using a large syringe (60cc) fitted tightly into end of the tubing can pull enough of a vacuum to get the water flowing. To get that tight fit, you may need to put a small diameter piece of tubing onto the tip of the syringe. Once the water begins flowing, it will continue uninterrupted until the water level in the jacket gets too low.
- If a sink or floor drain is unavailable the method suggested is to have two buckets and when one is nearly full, switch the tubing to the other bucket and then have one person go empty the first bucket and so on.
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Praxair
To request a pick-up if one or more empty cylinders:
- Send an email to Kurt Kessler at Praxair (Kurt.Kessler@linde.com) requesting the pick-up. Kurt handles the UIC accounts, in terms of filling orders & scheduling deliveries and pick-ups.
- Include: the Praxair acct #, room & bldg. location, a name & contact phone number, and hours the lab is open.
- Kurt will email back a confirmation for the pick-up. The pick-ups are done when the driver is available, since the daily priority is delivery of product.
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Hot Work Permit
Hot work operations include welding, brazing, torch cutting, grinding, and torch soldering. These operations create heat, sparks, and hot slag that have the potential to ignite flammable and combustible materials in the area surrounding hot work activities. Hot work is frequently performed in the University of Illinois at Chicago facilities.
The University Hot Work Permit Program was developed in accordance with OSHA regulations and NFPA recommendations, with the goal of preventing hot work fires. The requirements apply to both UIC Trades and outside contractors performing hot works. Both UIC employees and contractors are required to have hot works and fire extinguisher training; contractors are allowed to show proof of previous training. Anyone that has taken the required training is then eligible to fill out a hot works permit, although not for themselves. The hot work permit has to be completed by another tradesperson that has completed the training.
For more information please visit: Hot Work
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Moving Research Equipment
Occasionally research equipment must be moved and UIC Movers must be contacted.
Refrigerators: Refrigerators must be emptied of anything breakable & remaining unbreakable items secured with strong tape in place, otherwise the UIC Movers cannot move them.
Before the UIC Movers are allowed to move lab equipment (including refrigerators & freezers) the exterior surfaces of the equipment need to be disinfected with 70% EtOH or 10% Bleach. The Laboratory Safety and Maintenance Checklist must be filled out, signed, printed and posted on each piece of equipment.
This policy is in place to protect the Movers from any possible hazards.
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Disposing of Equipment
Someone in the Lab must “disinfect” the equipment (using either a 70% EtOH solution or a 10% Bleach solution) before anyone from Facilities Management (FM) will move or service any lab equipment. The Laboratory Safety and Maintenance Checklist must be filled out, signed, printed and posted on each piece of equipment.
If disposing a freezer, an FM billable request must be submitted to have FM remove the refrigerant from the minus 80- freezer, before it can be disposed of.
The department will need to work with Property Accounting for disposal of the old equipment, prior to requesting that the UIC Movers dispose of it.
Once the equipment is disinfected, the EHSO form is competed & posted, the SD form has been acquired, a billable FM request can be submitted for the Movers to dispose of your equipment.
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Disposal of Controlled Substances
Researchers and departments are responsible for the disposal of controlled substances:
Controlled substances, such as the Epinephrine & Morphine are not picked-up by the Environmental Health and Safety (EHSO office, but instead need to be disposed up by contacting the Office of Animal Care & Institutional Biosafety oacib@uic.edu. There should be existing records of an approved protocol for working with such substances and the disposal of them is a separate process.
Tissue specimens in formaldehyde are also not picked-up by (EHSO).
- The specimens themselves are considered Biohazards and can be disposed of in appropriate Biohazard bins.
- The fluid formaldehyde cannot be put into the Biohazard bins, and would need to be drained off and disposed of through EHSO as a chemical.
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Servicing of Research Equipment
- FM trades do not, in general, service lab equipment (such as refrigerators) for a variety of reasons. Often the labor & travel fees alone of having an outside vendor come to campus to diagnose & possibly repair an older refrigerator will be over half of the cost to simply purchase a new refrigerator.
- There is a Scientific Instrument Shop located in the basement of MSB run by the Research Resources Center (RRC) that can sometimes economically repair smaller lab instruments. Since they are onsite, there are no travel fees associated with the repair.
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Dock Deliveries
The building address for the COMRB is 909 S. Wolcott, however, the unmanned COMRB Dock (single bay) is located on Taylor Street just east of Wolcott Avenue. No loading/unloading equipment is available. Departments should request a call from the delivery company when they are 15 mins out so you can meet them at the dock and direct them to your lab.
Before committing to the delivery using the Wood St Dock, you should obtain the exact dimensions of the crates including the height (while on their forklift or however they will be transporting them), take a tape measure and make certain that the crates will fit through all doorways between the dock and your lab door.
Scientific Instrument Shop located in the basement of MSB run by the Research Resources Center (RRC) that can sometimes economically repair smaller lab instruments. Since they are onsite, there are no travel fees associated with the repair.
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Research Equipment Monitoring
The College of Medicine has installed gateways in MSB, MBRB and COMRB which will allow researchers to install sensors to monitor -80 freezers and incubators remotely.