Maintenance and Certification of Ultra Low Temperature (ULT) Freezers

Boston University Environmental Health and Safety

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to define and clarify roles and responsibilities for the proper care and maintenance of Ultra Low Temperature (ULT) freezers to ensure the safety of research materials.

Covered Parties

This policy applies to all Principal Investigators (PIs) and their laboratories at Boston University that use ULT freezers to store research materials, Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHS), and the contracting vendor.

Definitions

  • ULT Freezers: is a refrigerator that stores sensitive materials and biological samples at extremely low temperatures, typically between -40°C and -90°C.
  • Preventative Maintenance: The act of performing regularly scheduled maintenance activities to help prevent unexpected failures in the future.

Policy

Proper use and maintenance of an ULT freezer helps ensure the proper function of the freezer. For these reasons Boston University through EHS established a preventative maintenance program to help prevent freezer failures and to protect the valuable research materials.

Each freezer in the SciShield (formerly BioRaft) equipment inventory will have preventative maintenance performed twice each year. It is important to update the inventory and notify the ULT Freezer Coordinator whenever a new freezer is added to a laboratory or when it is moved to a new location. The preventative maintenance will be performed by a qualified external contractor certified for this work.

Responsibilities

Environmental Health & Safety

EHS will coordinate ULT freezer preventative maintenance with the external contractor and PI to ensure minimal interruption to research and without lapse. Maintenance records will be uploaded to the inventory in SciShield.

Principal Investigator  and Laboratories
  • Laboratories are responsible for ensuring ULT freezers are properly inventoried in SciShield.
  • Ensuring proper care and use of the ULT freezer.
  • Is responsible for any repairs.
  • PI will notify EHS when a ULT freezer is added or deleted from the lab’s equipment inventory.
Contracting Company
  • Perform preventative maintenance as scheduled by EHS following the Statement of Work (SOW) in the executed contract.
  • Provide preventative maintenance service reports to EHS for upload to SciShield. Reports shall document the maintenance performed and any repairs necessary.

Related Policies and References

  • Contract for Preventative Maintenance on file with EHS.

History

This preventative maintenance program was initiated in March 2024

Last revised: Oct 23, 2024