CONTROLLED COPY

Centre for Biological Engineering

Standard Operating Procedure SOP028

Title: Temperature Monitoring of Refrigerators & Freezers

Location: CBE Laboratories

1. PURPOSE
To describe how the temperature will be monitored in laboratory refrigerators and freezers.

2. SCOPE
The scope of this SOP is to describe the procedure that should be followed to monitor the temperature of
laboratory refrigerators and freezers used for the storage of samples and reagents in the laboratories of
the Centre for Biological Engineering (CBE) and T208b Tissue Engineering Laboratory (Wolfson
School).The procedure for monitoring the temperature of the Cold room is also described.

3. RESPONSIBILITES
CBE Laboratory Users

(i) It is the responsibility of ALL Laboratory to be vigilant of any problems with fridges, freezers and
the Cold Room and to report them to the Laboratory Manager.

Responsible Person (RP)/Laboratory Manager (LM)

It is the responsibility of the Laboratory/Quality manager to:

(i) It is the responsibility of the responsible person to monitor & react to the temperature monitoring
alarm panel in the external corridor.

(ii) Regularly inspect the fridges and freezers to look for signs of too much ice, samples becoming
frozen in the fridge or puddles of water, all indicating potential problems with the equipment.

(iii) Perform and record monthly freezer maintenance checks

4. EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

•All Fridges & Freezers located in the CBE & Tissue Engineering Laboratory
•Cold Room in CBE

Version 006 Effective Date: 19th December 2019 Review 19th December 2021

Written by: C.Kavanagh Reviewed by: A.Chandra Approved by: R.I.Temple

Page 1 of 5
 CONTROLLED COPY
Centre for Biological Engineering

Standard Operating Procedure SOP028

Title: Temperature Monitoring of Refrigerators & Freezers

Location: CBE Laboratories

5. PROCEDURE
5.1 Temperature Monitoring of refrigeraters, freezer & -80 C Freezers

i) All fridges & freezers have been connected to a temperature monitoring system. If the
temperature goes out of the specified range an alarm will sound on the display board
located in the External corridor.

ii) If the alarm sounds the responsible person must be alerted. They should check the
display board to identify which piece of equipment is alarming. The alarm can be muted
but the cause must be investigated by manually checking the equipment.

5.2 Temperature Monitoring Schedule for -20 and -80 Freezers

i) -20 and -80 Freezer temperatures must be checked and recorded using a calibrated
thermometer every month by the responsible person.

ii) The responsible person must monitor the results and any abnormal results reported to
the laboratory manager.

iii) If a trend is noticed that may indicate an issue with the equipment this must be
investigated. Users of this equipment should be advised to move material to another
freezer until the problem is resolved.

5.3 Temperature Monitoring of the Cold Room

(i) The Cold Room has a digital display of the temperature.

(ii) The cold room is connected Temperature monitoring system. If the temperature goes out of
The specified range an alarm will sound on the display located in the External corridor.

(iii) If the alarm sounds the responsible person must be alerted. They should check the
display board to identify which piece of equipment is alarming. The alarm can be muted
but the cause must be investigated by manually checking the equipment.

Version 006 Effective Date: 19th December 2019 Review 19th December 2021

Written by: C.Kavanagh Reviewed by: A.Chandra Approved by: R.I.Temple

Page 2 of 5
 CONTROLLED COPY
Centre for Biological Engineering

Standard Operating Procedure SOP028

Title: Temperature Monitoring of Refrigerators & Freezers

Location: CBE Laboratories

5.4 Equipment Malfunction

(i) If any part of the equipment fails or malfunctions, the user should contact the Laboratory
Manager. With permission of the Lab Manager the user should consult the Operator Instruction
Manuals to access fault finding, error displays and troubleshooting procedures.

(ii) All problems and corrective actions should be recorded in the Maintenance Log which
Is located outside each respective laboratory.

(iii) If the equipment fails to work or malfunctions and cannot be rectified according to
troubleshooting procedures detailed in the Operator and Users Manuals the Laboratory
Manager must be informed and a “Do Not Use” notice should be posted on the equipment.
Contact the manufacturer for advice and coordinate with the Lab Manager for external
maintenance and servicing.

6. DOCUMENTATION

The following records are outputs of this SOP:

• QS-FORM-010 – Cleaning and Maintenance record for Fridges & Freezers
• HTA-PR-011 – Freezer Maintenance Schedule

These records will be filed in the equipment file or otherwise archived for future review or retrieval.

Version 006 Effective Date: 19th December 2019 Review 19th December 2021

Written by: C.Kavanagh Reviewed by: A.Chandra Approved by: R.I.Temple

Page 3 of 5
 CONTROLLED COPY
Centre for Biological Engineering

Standard Operating Procedure SOP028

Title: Temperature Monitoring of Refrigerators & Freezers

Location: CBE Laboratories

SOP Version History

Version Date Revised/ Revision Summary New

Reviewed Reviewed Version
Number
1 13 January 2010 1. Replaced Wolf Fridge/Freezer with Labcold 2
Revised by A. SparkFree Fridge Freezer
Chandra 2. Corrected the locations of all fridges and
freezers.
3. Added Location H23 to the SOP as the
Labcold fridge and Labcold freezer have
been moved there.
4. Removed reference to Wolf Fridge which
was left behind in the Wolfson School labs.
5. Added reference to the CBE equipment
numbers
2 15 January 2010 1. Included Labcold Sparkfree Refrigerator 3
Revised by Q. (RLPR09043) and Labcold Sparkfree
Rafiq Freezer (RLVF14201).
2. Added Location H25 to the SOP as new
Labcold Refrigerator and Freezer are
installed there.
3. Added MSR 145 data logger for Labcold
Sparkfree Refrigerator (RLPR09043). Data
logger number is 302831.
4. Added MSR 145 data logger for Labcold
Sparkfree Freezer (RLVF14201). Data logger
number is 302832.

3 3rd October 2012 1. Major review due to introduction of 4

Reviewed by C. temperature monitoring system
Kavanagh 2. Transfer onto new lean SOP template
3. Minor changes to responsibilities
4. Removal of section regarding the use of
data loggers
5. Additional fridges, freezers & - 80
freezers to equipment section.
6. Changes to the procedure for recording
temperatures for the – 80 C freezers.
4 7th December i)Annual Review 5
2016. Reviewed ii)Removed the statement about manually
by C.Kavanagh recording temperature of -80 freezer.

Version 006 Effective Date: 19th December 2019 Review 19th December 2021

Written by: C.Kavanagh Reviewed by: A.Chandra Approved by: R.I.Temple

Page 4 of 5
 CONTROLLED COPY
Centre for Biological Engineering

Standard Operating Procedure SOP028

Title: Temperature Monitoring of Refrigerators & Freezers

Location: CBE Laboratories

iii)Added a statement about It being the

responsibility of the responsible person to
monitor & react to the temperature monitoring
alarm panel in the external corridor.
iv)Added a section about temperature monitoring
of equipment & procedure for checking &
responding.
v)Added a statement about recording
maintenance on the record sheets.

5 19th December Annual review 6

2019 by Added a section about new temperature
C.Kavanagh monitoring using calibrated thermometer. Added
a new freezer maintenance record template
This SOP will be updated again when new
system installed in 2020

Version 006 Effective Date: 19th December 2019 Review 19th December 2021

Written by: C.Kavanagh Reviewed by: A.Chandra Approved by: R.I.Temple

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