Best practices to follow to keep your lab equipment in optimal condition

March 08, 2023 | Lab Furniture

Poorly maintained lab equipment would mean having a large portion of your expenses on repair services and replacing parts. Ensuring that your equipment is in its best condition for a longer period of time entails proper cleaning, training of staff, and daily servicing. Lab Manager shared two tips that could surely go a long way.

Regular cleaning and calibration

When using lab equipment, cleaning becomes second nature especially when contamination is of concern. However, it’s crucial to have these equipment cleaned appropriately. Key factors to consider include:

frequency required in cleaning a certain item
detergents or cleaning materials to use
level of dismantlement required

The staff should be well-aware of how to clean equipment. Keeping a physical or digital logbook to track when each item was cleaned and used would come in handy.

Another critical practice is calibration which guarantees accuracy, repeatability, and standardization. Lack thereof would put at risk quality, safety and equipment longevity. Ways to ensure calibration involve:

consulting manufacturer’s recommendations, industry and organizational standards or looking up the well-documented procedure manual if the equipment is internally calibrated

having a properly-trained lab staff member or third party do the calibrating

Keeping up with servicing and repairs

Lab equipment would perform reliably if they undergo regular servicing. This is specifically vital for large or intricate items and those that are heavily relied on where safety is a major concern. The following practices are of great help.

Inquiring the manufacturer if they offer servicing as part of equipment purchase or add-on
Keeping an eye out for damages and rectifying them the earliest possible

Practicing preventive maintenance offers lots of benefits to your lab: ensuring accuracy and precision, optimal performance and longevity of equipment, and reduction of downtime and expenditures.