Safety Cabinet Solutions Class II microbiological safety cabinets email |
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Class II microbiological safety cabinet's, unlike the class I microbiological safety cabinet (msc) provides protection for both the user, the environment and the sample material within the cabinet's clean air (GMP Grade A) working environment. Protection for the user is provided by means of an advanced inflow air curtain whilst the sample material in the cabinet is protected from the dirty laboratory environment by a constant stream of hepa filtered air (airflow velocities inflow > 0.4 m/s and downflow between 0.25 and 0.5 m/sec). The Class II msc performance is dependant on this looped air management system of inflow and downflow air being maintained this is controlled 24/7 by a reliable fan control system ensuring optimum performance whilst giving maximum filter life (the longest in the industry) for the users thus reducing life cycle costs. There are many ways cabinet designers use to achieve basic class II msc performance, some far more reliable and robust than others - not all class msc are the same!. One fan. two fans or three fans? Two or three filters? Recirculating or externally ducted? Ulpa or hepa filtration? Porton Down, TUV, NSF, ACDP, DIN, LNE and BS - - what do these things really mean, which, if any is best? KI testing or performance envelopes? Noise, what manufactures allude to when hard selling their cabinet's features to you and the reality in the real laboratory world! Fumigation, when, how and what with? Just a sample of the variables that exist in the current class II msc market place. Most nowadays see the class II msc as nothing more than a box that can be bought and sold in the same way as a glass beaker to paper clips or any other laboratory consumable, we don't! Safety Cabinet Solutions Ltd, doing it right first time every time! It is essential that class II safety cabinet's are sited in the laboratory in a suitably surveyed location (and if at all possible in accordance with BS5726 recommendations and guidance 2005) within the laboratory and that wherever possible the cabinet is left uncluttered with items that will disrupt the downflow air flow (provisions can often be made when large items have to remain in the cabinet or when, say, a microscope is to be used). Note; both BS en12469 2000 and ACDP (advisory committee for dangerous pathogens) recommend that natural gas should not be used (as this will have an impact on the cabinets airflow, the downflow filter integrity and could possibly prove to be a fire hazard - several cabinets have been set alight this way), ass such this should not be offered as a standard fixture on the class II msc. If, after a risk assessment it is deemed necessary to have natural gas then a special gas solenoid type tap together with a low profile, foot operated ignition type burner should be used. Seldom called 'a class II microbiological safety cabinet' and more commonly known amongst scientists, engineers, consultants and architects as hoods, flow hoods, safety cabinet, tissue culture cabinet and in the USA as a biohazard or biological safety cabinet to name a few. SCS Ltd advise on a consultancy basis (free of charge should products be purchased through SCS Ltd) on any concerns a perspective purchaser may have. SCS ltd safety cabinet recommendations Safety Cabinet Solutions Ltd, doing it right first time every time! EN12469:2000 class II microbiological safety cabinets
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