Hygienic practices

HYGIENIC PRACTICES

Good laboratory practices should be followed in each and evry part of semen lab to produce good quality semen.
  • The good laboratory practices should be followed to maintain the laboratory hygiene in places like semen processing lab, buffer and diluent preparation room, AV room, sterilization room, pass box and ante room.
  • To maintain the hygiene, fumigation is done twice a week in all the above places.
  • Fumigation of the laboratory can be done with formalin with fumigator/humidifier or by potassium permanganate and formalin.

Fumigation using humidifier

Fumigation should be done weekly twice. Fumigation can be done with formalin (with humidifier) or with formalin and potassium permonganate.
  • 5% concentration during in between weeks (12.5 ml of 35 to 40% formaldehyde per cubic meter) and 8% concentration at week ends (22 ml of 35 to 40% formaldehyde per cubic meter) is generally used with humidifier for fumigation of laboratory.
  • The fumigation is done for 2 hours and the exhaust fan is switched on over night to remove all the formalin fumes.
  • The bacterial load shall be measured every week to monitor pollution of the laboratory atmosphere.
  • Monitoring of lab environment by bacterial load test should support any alternative method of sterilizing semen lab if tried.

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Ultra-violet lamp

UV lamp should be switched on at least 8 hours per day after completing routine laboratory work.
  • The Ultra-violet lamp can be used to sterilize the laboratory on days other than when formalin is not used.
  • The number of lamps required will depend upon the area of laboratory.
  • The lamps are fixed inside the semen processing lab, freezing lab, buffer and diluent preparation room, all laminar air flow units, apron and laboratory footwear cabinet and pass box with a common operating switch outside the laboratory.
  • These lights shall be kept ‘on’ for at least for 8 hours during night hours and should be switched off at least 30 minutes before beginning work.
  • The date of installation of the UV lights shall be noted to facilitate replacement as the life of UV tube is of 2000 hours. A log book should be maintained for timely replacement of UV lights.

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Last modified: Wednesday, 6 June 2012, 2:26 PM