Good Management Practices

Perhaps the easiest way to earn points in this challenge is to employ good management practices.

Earn points for each activity below for each refrigeration unit in your lab.

Defrost and Remove Dust from Intake or Coils

When defrosting freezers remember to brush or tap ice off the gasket around the door seal. Dust removal from the intake and coils can be done with a vacuum.

• Don’t know how to defrost and clean your refrigeration unit? This video will show you how it’s done or check out this simple guide from Harvard’s Sustainability Office to de-ice your freezer in 4 easy steps

Clean Out

Freezer clean-outs conducted in labs at UC Davis and the CDC indicate that 10-30% of items stored in refrigeration units are no longer needed or no longer viable.

Sample Inventory

Inventories reduce the likelihood of misplaced samples and improves sample access speed.

Inventories include identifying information about samples (researcher, date, experiment, sample type), and they may be paper or electronic. They are updated periodically to include the most recent sample additions and removal.

• Here is a sample inventory template from UBC

Inventory on File

Searchable sample inventories reduce time spent locating samples, and shorten freezer door opening times, thereby increasing equipment efficiency and workflow.

Electronic inventories must be searchable (ex. Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets).

High Density Storage

Many labs still use freezer boxes that store only 81 samples (9×9 dividers) or 100 samples (10×10 dividers). To maximize existing space, switch to high density storage (13×13 dividers or smaller tubes).

• Need some inspiration? Read this blog post about how to create freezer space as if by magic!

Contents of at least three full freezer boxes must be converted to high density format to receive credit.