A few days ago we had our bi-annual IACUC inspection. Lab inspections, while often frustrating for researchers, are a necessary component to running a lab safely. IACUC, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, is responsible for making sure we’re housing and treating the animals in our lab appropriately.

The IACUC inspection is just one of the many inspections our lab is subject to each year. Academic labs are inspected for chemical storage and labeling compliance, safety, emergency preparedness, and inventories of lab equipment which are considered property of the university.

These inspections often frustrate researchers as compliance often means spending money (which as a rule, is always tight), changing established laboratory routines, and sometimes putting in extra work for absolutely no benefit.

For example, in our last two inspections, to comply with our inspector’s recommendations we needed to purchase new chairs, replace displayed information with slightly different displayed information, and clean the smudged glass of a terrarium so that the frog inside could have a better view of the lab.

Some of these tasks are clearly silly, for instance we cover the exterior of the terrariums so that the animals aren’t stressed seeing humans moving around nearby. Clearly, the smudges on the glass are of no concern to any human or animal in the lab. But the frustration I’m displaying isn’t the only side of the story.

These inspections are important, extremely important. We may not want to change our habits, or spend money when it’s not absolutely necessary, but without the inspections we may never address some issues, or even realize an issue is present.

Let’s consider another of the above examples, the requirement that we purchase new chairs. Our old chairs still work, they aren’t especially uncomfortable, so what’s the issue? The chairs had fabric seats. That doesn’t sound like a big deal on the surface, and it may be that it’s never caused an issue in the lab’s 35 years, so what’s the deal? If a dangerous chemical is dropped or spilled on the fabric, there is no way to remove it, and when it dries, there is no easy way to detect it. The solution, plastic chairs which can easily be wiped clean.

Come to think of it, who knows what’s been spilled on those chairs in 35 years? I could be sitting on irritants or carcinogens!

The moral of the story? As much as the many annual inspections may annoy or frustrate laboratory researchers, they are necessary. They remind us that we need to do the best job we can, not just when doing science, but when considering safety, health, and the potential for emergency situations.

…and tomorrow my new chairs arrive!