Sector — research
Fume Cupboard Testing for Research Laboratories
Safeguard your research and your staff. Compliance for laboratories where the chemistry changes with every project and the cupboards cannot simply come offline.
Why research is different
The cupboard was specified for work that has since moved on
A teaching laboratory does broadly the same chemistry year after year. A research laboratory does not. Grants change, groups change, and the compound in the cupboard this year may be nothing like the one it was commissioned for.
That matters in two specific ways. On a ductless unit, filter media specified for one chemical family may have no capacity at all for the next — a general purpose carbon filter will not hold ammonia or formaldehyde. And on any unit, the apparatus that research work requires, rigs, condensers, Schlenk lines, glassware left in place for days, obstructs the airflow the cupboard was designed around.
Neither shows up as a fault. The fan still runs and the monitor still reads. It shows up in a containment test, which is why the annual examination is worth more in a research setting than anywhere else.
Changing chemistry
Tell us when the work in a unit changes and we will confirm whether the filter media still suits it.
Apparatus in the aperture
Containment is assessed with the cupboard as it is actually used, not empty.
Experiments that cannot stop
We plan around reactions in progress, and can work outside normal hours by arrangement.
Specialist media
Acid, mercury, ammonia, formaldehyde and iodine grades, including radiochemistry work.
What we do
Services for research facilities
Everything the equipment needs across its life, from one supplier, with our own engineers.
Compliance
COSHH Regulation 9 and the 14-month rule
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 require that engineering controls provided to reduce exposure are examined and tested at intervals not exceeding 14 months, and maintained in efficient working order in the meantime.
For a research facility that duty sits alongside your own COSHH assessments, which change as projects change. Where a new assessment introduces a substance the cupboard was never specified for, the control measure has to be reassessed too — not just the paperwork.
We work to a 12-month cycle by default so the certificate never runs close to expiry, and issue documentation that stands up in an audit.
Research FAQs
More on our full FAQ page.
Which substances are now in use in which unit. On a ductless cupboard that determines whether the filter media is still appropriate; on a ducted one it may affect the containment assessment. It is a short conversation and it is worth having before the annual visit, not after.
We need the working surface clear to test properly, and we cannot move your chemicals or apparatus. Where a rig genuinely cannot be dismantled, tell us in advance and we will discuss what can be assessed and what has to wait.
By arrangement, yes. Research facilities often cannot release a bank of cupboards during the working day, so we programme visits around the group’s schedule.
We supply filter media formulated for iodine and methyl iodide vapours, including iodination reactions using low-level radioactive iodine. Suitability for your specific application must be confirmed by your radiation protection supervisor and chemical safety officer.
Book your annual test
Free site surveys. Talk to an engineer rather than a call centre.