First Day On The Job

Day One - June 6

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Reading so many SOP's

SOP's are Standard Operating Procedures. These documents outline the proper methods for completing a variety of tasks in the lab.

I started my morning this morning by reading through about 20 Standard Operating Procedures documents (SOP's). Most were fairly mundane, detailing the proper use and storage of everyday lab equipment including pipettes, balances, and volumetric glass and plasticware. Although the task was a little overwhelming, it is very important to be aware of the appropriate methods and techniques to use to complete assignments. Some of the SOP's are especially important because they detail methods accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS). Following these procedures as outlined in the SOP's allows the company to maintain UKAS accreditation and report results with the UKAS stamp of approval.

Intro to the Labs

Before heading into the lab, I had to get into the proper PPE. In all of the labs within the building, lab coats and safety glasses are required prior to entry, so I got assigned a lab coat and set of safety glasses to use on a daily basis. I felt incredibly official in my SOCOTEC branded lab coat! Once decked out in all my PPE, my manager took me on a walk through all of the labs in our building: Organic Chemistry, Metals, Gasses, Ion Chromatography, Radioactive Chemistry, and Forensics.

Shadowing in the Metals Lab

"Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) is an analytical technique used to determine how much of certain elements are in a sample. The ICP-OES principle uses the fact that atoms and ions can absorb energy to move electrons from the ground state to an excited state." - Agilent Technologies

After touring through all the labs, my manager introduced me to Dan, who is in charge of the ICP-OES in the metals lab. Our first task was to dilute wastewater samples to run through the machine. Then, once that was done, we finished the preparation of paint chip samples that had been sent into the lab to test for lead. Since the machine only processes liquid samples, the paint chips first had to be digested in an acidic solution on a hot plate for 2 hours, then filtered through filter paper and made up to 100mL with Deionised water. It was really interesting to see how a variety of samples are prepped before analysis on the machine.

Seeing the Process from Start to Finish

I finished up the day by shadowing Helen, who is in charge of sample receipt. It is her responsibility to match up the samples received with the descriptions of the samples and their customer ID numbers, and then assign each sample a unique SOCOTEC ID number. These numbers correlate to the job numbers on documents each lab analyst receives that detail exactly what analysis is required for each sample. For instance, job number 10 has 4 samples, labelled 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 respectively. Understanding the ID assignment system makes it much easier to locate samples and match them to their appropriate documentation (called job packs). Helen also showed me one of the most beautiful spreadsheets I have ever seen: a shared sheet that lists all ongoing and upcoming jobs, and pinpoints by which lab each individual sample needs to be analyzed. I love spreadsheets, especially if they are organized perfectly and color-coded, and this one ticked all the boxes (literally!).

Reflections

Today went by so fast, but I feel like I was able to do so much in a short amount of time. It was so fun being back in a lab, which I haven't been able to do since before the pandemic started! I am looking forward to learning more about specific processes so that I can confidently analyze a sample by myself from preparation to the machine.