Accessing laboratory services
It takes less than five minutes to make a request from the laboratory operations service catalogue. We will respond to your request within two business days.
Service catalogue
Safety and compliance
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Delivery of lab orientations for staff and students, introducing safety protocols, equipment and lab-specific procedures.
What we do
- Facilitate orientations, fortnightly at a minimum, with increased delivery to weekly during peak intake periods. Publish the timetable for orientation sessions at the start of each year and communicate via email to lab heads.
- Assist lab groups to ensure all compliance needs are met and recorded in lab inductions provided by the lab group, including for shared lab spaces. Note that inductions are managed by school operations coordinators.
- Manage facility access for lab users in accordance with compliance requirements.
What you do
- Provide, as early as possible, student details including name, email, student number and facilities they are seeking access to. This may be through an established process such as resource request form or through direct communication with the lab officer.
- Undertake the training needs analysis with new starters to ensure all training requirements for the lab and the work to be carried out are identified.
- Enrol or have your new starter enrol themselves in the required TrainME courses – this cannot be done by anyone else.
- Encourage and reinforce that the pre-reading and required training must be completed and are best done in a timely manner to ensure access to laboratories is not delayed.
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Provision and maintenance of spill kits, safety showers, eye wash stations and first aid kits.
What we do
- Undertake a flush of safety showers and eye wash facilities weekly to ensure functionality and clarity of water output. Compliance testing for these is undertaken by central University services.
- Facilitate the restocking of lab first aid kits by arranging access for an external provider (booked by Faculty OHS or the central team) or advertising dates for lab users and first aiders to bring kits to a central location to restock these annually.
- Provide a secondary check point for availability and validity of specialised first aid or emergency response items.
- Provide radiation badges when users are required to wear one.
What you do
- Bring first aid kits from laboratories to the central point for restocking if an external contractor is not engaged in this area.
- Identify any specialised first aid or emergency response items required for the chemical or equipment being used, eg calcium gluconate for labs using HF, PEG-300 for labs using phenol, EpiPen for food sensory trial areas.
- Alert the lab operations team of any issues with emergency equipment as soon as it is identified.
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Provision and maintenance of general and specialised PPE; engineering controls for fume hoods and biosafety cabinets.
What we do
- Arrange the purchase and supply of PPE and safety equipment for use in laboratories.
- Ensure fumehoods are maintained by:
- advertising to users the dates this has been arranged by central University services
- providing clearance forms for users to complete before the service date
- checking units have been cleared out by users and the required decontamination clearance form is attached to the unit before the service date.
- Coordinate annual service of all biosafety cabinets (BSCs), ensuring compliance stickers are up to date and service reports are filed for audit inspections.
- Provide online and in-person training in the use of fumehoods and biosafety cabinets.
What you do
- Ensure you and those you supervise have received and passed an induction prior to using a fumehood or biosafety cabinet, noting that different models are likely to require a new induction.
- Clean these units after each use, including sump area in biosafety cabinets, and ensure no items are stored long term within fumehoods and BSCs.
- Inform lab officers when a replacement or repair may be required.
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Review of risk assessments and safety protocols for research and teaching, and lab and workplace inspections.
What we do
- Record the required submission of at least one Safe Working Practice (SWP) and one Task Risk Assessment (TRA) for any hazardous chemical orders requested prior to lab access being granted.
- Review safety documents to:
- Specifically identify potential hazards that carry a high safety risk or compliance requirement
- Ensure appropriate measures are in place prior to work being undertaken or products being purchased.
- Provide direction on where safety documents are stored for each lab group.
- Undertake workplace inspections in assigned communal and ancillary lab areas twice a year.
- Support academics or lab delegates to inspect laboratories they are responsible for.
What you do
- Complete safety documentation to the highest standard ensuring all details of the work, its risks and the emergency and disposal plans are completed and provided in advance of work being undertaken.
- As a supervisor, undertake your responsibility to review the scientific information and ensure that all safety precautions have been considered and captured in the safety documentation before you sign off on the work being undertaken.
- Attach safety documentation and a requisition form to all chemical order requests.
- Complete workplace inspections in your areas of responsibility within required timeframes.
- Work with a lab officer or OHS committee member during inspections to provide additional insight.
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Management of University, Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) compliance; training and guidance in safe work procedures, lab operations and use of common lab equipment.
What we do
- Ensure all compliance training has been completed before lab access is provided.
- Manage the audit process by attending all audits and actioning findings in requirement timeframes. This includes providing guidance and direction to lab users in pre-audit inspections to determine if any facility items require rectification or adjustments.
- Oversee impacts on compliance guidelines in liaison with project managers and manage contractors to ensure they operate within the guidelines.
- Act in coordination with the Office of Research Ethics and Integrity (OREI) Biorisk team to manage potential adverse events for any major works that may require certificate suspension or regulator notification prior to commencement.
- Provide advice and safety documentation for scheduled drugs and radioactive isotopes.
What you do
- Enrol new starters in the required compliance training in TrainME.
- Train new users in lab specific processes related to regulatory requirements, eg sample records, labelling of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HAACP).
- Encourage good lab practice in line with regulatory requirements.
- Ensure any audit findings related to lab processes are actioned within the required timeframes.
- Notify lab officers of any:
- Unexpected contractor activities
- Adverse events that will impact facility containment or compliance status
- Planned changes to dealings or facility certification levels.
Technical support
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Treatment and disposal of lab waste placed in designated bins/receptacles.
What we do
- Provide guidance and support to staff and students in the correct method/stream of lab waste disposal.
- Ensure appropriate receptables are available for waste streams.
- Book collections and processing by specialist contractors as required.
- Manage collection and transport of waste to the store when lab users are not in attendance to do it.
- Manage the collection, processing and disposal of biohazardous waste where lab technicians are engaged to support it.
- Coordinate the laundering requirements for lab coats.
What you do
- Identify and document the appropriate disposal path for all products before starting work.
- Make a service request enquiry to the lab operations team if there is any doubt as to the appropriate method of disposal for an item.
- Train students in the correct methods of waste management.
- Place full general rubbish bins in the corridors for collection by cleaners.
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Coordinate chemical purchasing, storage and facilitation of safe waste management and disposal practices.
What we do
- Support lab users with practical and cost-effective chemical, dangerous goods and poisons orders by helping to locate existing stocks and encouraging consideration for lower risk options as an alternative to hazardous chemicals. Orders are placed through lab officers.
- Coordinate monthly chemical waste collection including manifest creation and ad hoc clearance of unwanted products. Ensure empty carboys and blank labels are available for chemical waste disposal requirements.
- Monitor storage management protocols for chemicals for which specific management plans are required to prevent hazardous situation creation eg crystallisation of picric acid.
- Regularly review and clean out communal chemical storage areas and dangerous goods cabinets (annually). Support lab users with any required actions.
- Provide storage and disposal of scheduled drugs and radioactive isotopes.
- Conduct annual audits for and advise on the appropriate process, management and record keeping for scheduled poisons.
- In conjunction with OHS, create and provide training, advice and guidance materials that support continuous learning on chemical storage and labelling.
- Ensure appropriate storage facilities are available for the products required for research.
What you do
- Check whether products are already available in Faculty before purchasing.
- Action regular reviews and clean outs of lab chemical stores.
- Train students in appropriate chemical and chemical waste storage and labelling.
- Investigate and, where possible, substitute lower risk alternatives.
- Implement and action storage management protocols and scheduled actions as required for products purchased eg degassing, prevention of crystallisation, discard before decomposition.
- Seal, label and transport chemical waste to the Biosciences 4 waste storage room (G40) for disposal.
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Support with orders, quotes and deliveries for faculty-funded lab items including equipment, hazardous chemicals and consumables.
What we do
- Liaise with suppliers for quotes and deliveries for faculty-funded lab items.
- Purchase faculty-provided consumables through the appropriate University channels to ensure continuous supply, and where required, coordinate with import brokers.
- Assist researchers with scoping new equipment purchases, including providing advice, confirming technical install requirements and checking scoping checklists are complete before purchase.
What you do
- Ensure lab officers are consulted on all equipment purchases with sufficient lead time prior to purchase to ensure the items can be accommodated and meet all functionality, financial and safety requirements.
- Submit required safety documentation with any purchase request.
- Download and complete the pre-purchase form and attach the completed form before submitting your request.
Lab maintenance
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Maintenance and replacement of core equipment in line with compliance, accreditation and manufacturer standards.
What we do
- Fix lab facility issues as they arise (eg leaks, cracks, chips, power outages).
- Coordinate with contractors to repair or install items affecting facility infrastructure.
- Work with project managers to ensure projects are delivered as required.
- Facilitate collaborations to ensure facilities are used at full capacity.
- Raise potential facility upgrades or future demand items with school operations managers.
What you do
- Notify lab officers of urgent physical issues or faults in lab spaces.
- Submit ServiceNow requests for small facility items (eg power circuit cut-outs, light globe replacement) and notify lab officers for follow-up or contractor coordination.
- Discuss space requirements with lab officers to confirm available facilities or escalate requests if needed.
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Management of communal equipment, servicing coordination and procedural oversight to ensure safe, compliant lab operations.
What we do
- Within one week of a request, deliver training against the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to lab delegates to be enable them to train lab users to use the following high-risk and authorised-user-only equipment:
- Autoclaves
- Biosafety cabinets, laminar flows, fumehoods, microwaves
- Liquid nitrogen decanting
- Gas bottle management (transport, connection and disconnection).
- Coordinate with relevant stakeholders (lab groups, contractors and Business Services) to schedule servicing of communal and safety equipment.
- Communal equipment is defined by the steps outlined in the faculty communal equipment framework.
- Safety equipment includes pressure vessels, safety cabinets (fume hoods and BSC) and safety showers.
- Assist with managing of contractors for non-communal equipment repairs submitted by lab users.
- Manage a single reference repository of equipment SOPs.
- Maintain functionality and expense records for communal and safety equipment. This includes supporting school budget planning by raising expenditure requests early for their review. User feedback is considered alongside records in request reviews.
- Maintain oversight across schools to identify lab equipment redundancies, disfunction and duplications. This includes assessing condition, consulting with users and recommending repair, repurposing or decommissioning.
- Coordinate access and usage requests for shared equipment (eg CT cabinets, freezers and the saltwater system in Biosciences 4).
What you do
- Nominate lab delegates to be approved trainers for your group if desired.
- Ensure delegates follow the approved training method for the given equipment.
- Maintain open discussions with lab officers and their managers if it is desired that lab officers provide training on other equipment.
- Ensure communal equipment status has been approved by the school prior to requesting lab officer support for scheduling maintenance or repair.
- Notify lab officers of any purchases or disposals you have actioned.
- Ensure lab users complete SOPs and Task Risk Assessments (TRAs) for any new equipment prior to using the item.
- Provide feedback on equipment functionality and fit for purpose.
- Within one week of a request, deliver training against the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to lab delegates to be enable them to train lab users to use the following high-risk and authorised-user-only equipment: