.png?width=140&height=40&name=Layer_1%20(1).png){kind=small}
.png?width=140&height=40&name=Layer_1%20(2).png){kind=small}
Whether for annual leave, external training, or periods of reduced activity, extended staff absences always represent a critical moment for your scientific facilities. When your team is not on-site, your laboratories become particularly vulnerable.
The absence of regular human monitoring, sometimes combined with hasty departure preparations, significantly increases risks to your critical equipment: refrigerators, freezers, and all the valuable assets they contain.
Recently, one of our clients from a university research institute shared devastating news with us: a team member forgot to check the refrigerator doors before leaving for the weekend. The tragic consequence: 15 years of research materials, valued at $30,000, were irretrievably lost and had to be discarded.
Experience shows that the most problematic incidents often occur during these periods of limited presence. Without rapid intervention, a simple technical failure can quickly transform into a major loss. A continuous monitoring system becomes your best protection, ensuring constant vigilance when your teams cannot be present.
Vigilance Begins with People: Raising Awareness and Accountability
"Be careful, this is when problems arise!" This phrase should resonate in all laboratories before an extended departure. The first line of defense is team awareness. Everyone must understand that ordinary vigilance needs to be intensified.
To channel this vigilance, formally designating a person responsible for final verification is crucial. This individual, ideally equipped with a checklist, performs a final inspection round after everyone else. They become the ultimate guarantor that all procedures have been followed before locking the door—the best insurance against oversights due to haste or diluted responsibilities.
"Be careful, this is when problems arise!" This phrase should resonate in all laboratories before an extended departure. The first line of defense is team awareness. Everyone must understand that ordinary vigilance needs to be intensified.
To channel this vigilance, formally designating a person responsible for final verification is crucial. This individual, ideally equipped with a checklist, performs a final inspection round after everyone else. They become the ultimate guarantor that all procedures have been followed before locking the door—the best insurance against oversights due to haste or diluted responsibilities.
Often Overlooked Critical Points: The Importance of Door Verification
One recurring factor in laboratory sample loss is the improper closing of refrigerated equipment doors. What seems like a simple detail can have serious consequences: a poorly closed door that bounces slightly or whose seal doesn't fully engage compromises the appliance's airtightness.
The resulting thermal degradation is generally slow but inexorable. The temperature gradually increases during periods of inactivity such as weekends, reaching levels that compromise sample integrity. Upon return, staff discover alarming situations: equipment at ambient temperature and potentially unrecoverable biological or chemical materials.
This avoidable situation requires implementing a systematic verification procedure. The person responsible for final checks must visually and physically ensure that each door is properly sealed while confirming that temperature displays are within acceptable ranges before leaving the premises.Another Vigilance Point: Last-Minute Loading
The massive arrival of inventory just before departure can overload a unit, disrupt cold air circulation, and create non-compliant zones. Ensure that equipment is not excessively filled to maintain a homogeneous temperature.Caution with Construction! Risks Related to External InterventionsMaintenance or renovation work is common, and contractors are often as eager as we are to depart for holidays. Their reflex, legitimate for securing a worksite, is sometimes to cut circuit breakers. Unfortunately, in haste or through lack of knowledge, they may cut power to critical equipment or, worse, to the monitoring system itself! Active validation after their departure is essential to ensure that no essential circuit has been inadvertently powered off.
The Hidden Opportunity of Holidays: Testing and Updating Protocols
Paradoxically, these few annual long weekends (Easter, Independence Day, Christmas, etc.) are perfect moments for preventive maintenance of your alert protocols.
Is your monitoring system 100% operational? Conduct a complete test: sensors, transmission, and most importantly, trigger a test alert to verify the entire chain.
Does your team know how to react? An alarm always occurs at the "wrong time." Ensure that on-call personnel knows how to connect to the monitoring platform and understands the intervention procedure.
Are Your Emergency Contacts Up to Date?
Now is the time to clean house: remove former collaborators from the list and verify the accuracy of phone numbers and emails. An alert sent into the void is an announced disaster.
Protecting Your Laboratory Assets During Absences: A Three-Step Approach
The safety of your critical equipment and precious samples during periods of absence cannot be left to chance. A structured rather than improvised preparation makes all the difference between constant worry and peace of mind. Discover the three essential pillars of an effective protection strategy for your laboratory.
1. Mobilize the Team: Create a Culture of Collective Vigilance
The first foundation of robust security lies in the conscious commitment of each team member. Raising awareness of specific risks related to extended absences and making everyone accountable constitute your first line of defense.
Establish preparatory meetings before absence periods and clearly communicate expectations regarding final checks. When all staff understands the importance of these procedures, negligence decreases considerably.
2. Verify Systematically: Nothing Replaces a Methodical InspectionThe second essential pillar is establishing a rigorous process for verifying critical elements.
Create detailed checklists covering all sensitive points: hermetic closing of refrigerated equipment doors, verification of power sources, inspection of appropriate filling levels, and confirmation of displayed temperature values.
This systematic approach eliminates the risk of oversights and ensures that all essential aspects are covered before departure.
3. Optimize Your Alerts: Prepare Your Monitoring System for Absence
The third indispensable foundation is the preventive optimization of your alert systems.
Well before departure, test your entire notification chain, verify that emergency contacts are up to date, and ensure that on-call staff knows exactly how to react in case of an alert.
Configure appropriate alert thresholds and validate that your sensors are working correctly. A well-prepared alert system becomes your eyes and ears in your absence.
The first foundation of robust security lies in the conscious commitment of each team member. Raising awareness of specific risks related to extended absences and making everyone accountable constitute your first line of defense.
Establish preparatory meetings before absence periods and clearly communicate expectations regarding final checks. When all staff understands the importance of these procedures, negligence decreases considerably.
2. Verify Systematically: Nothing Replaces a Methodical InspectionThe second essential pillar is establishing a rigorous process for verifying critical elements.
Create detailed checklists covering all sensitive points: hermetic closing of refrigerated equipment doors, verification of power sources, inspection of appropriate filling levels, and confirmation of displayed temperature values.
This systematic approach eliminates the risk of oversights and ensures that all essential aspects are covered before departure.
3. Optimize Your Alerts: Prepare Your Monitoring System for Absence
The third indispensable foundation is the preventive optimization of your alert systems.
Well before departure, test your entire notification chain, verify that emergency contacts are up to date, and ensure that on-call staff knows exactly how to react in case of an alert.
Configure appropriate alert thresholds and validate that your sensors are working correctly. A well-prepared alert system becomes your eyes and ears in your absence.
.webp?width=711&height=711&name=Appoint%20a%20responsible%20person%20for%20the%20final%20check%20(2).webp)
