A departmental stockroom that supplies bacteriostatic water to a dozen laboratories is doing the work of a small distributor: buying centrally, storing correctly, issuing by lot and passing documentation downstream. Done well, it saves every lab the trouble of managing its own supply. Done casually, it becomes the place expired and frozen vials come from. Here is the practice.
Central specification
Buy against one written specification for the whole department so that every lab receives the same product: sterile water, 0.9% benzyl alcohol, endotoxins below 0.5 EU/mL, pH 4.5 to 7.0, sealed multi-use vials with lot and expiration, lot-specific COA, minimum remaining shelf life on delivery. Requisition language is in buying for institutional labs.
Which sizes to stock
All three, in proportions set by what the labs actually draw. A reasonable starting ratio for a mixed department is 10 mL as the default, 3 mL for teaching and occasional benches, 30 mL for the few high-throughput groups. Track issue by size for a quarter and adjust. See estimating usage.
The storage zone
- Room temperature, 20 to 25 °C, monitored. Stockrooms are often in basements or near loading docks that run cold; a data logger settles the question. Never in the walk-in cold room.
- Original cartons, closed, off the floor, away from windows and heat.
- One lot per bin or shelf position, labeled with lot and expiration.
- Preservative-free sterile water, saline and buffers stored separately and clearly distinguished, so that a hurried pick does not substitute one for another.
Receiving
Inspect trays, reconcile lots against the packing list and COA, log lot, expiration, quantity, date and inspector, and file the COA by lot. Quarantine anything non-conforming. The procedure is in how to inspect a vial; the record structure is in lot traceability.
Issue
- First-expiring, first-out, always.
- Record what was issued to whom: lab, date, size, quantity, lot. A recharge system usually captures this; if not, a sign-out sheet does.
- Issue whole trays or packs where possible so that a lab receives one lot.
- Give each lab access to the COA for the lot it received: a shared folder by lot number is enough.
Reorder points
Set a minimum stock per size equal to the department's usage over the supplier's lead time plus a buffer, and reorder when stock hits it. With a domestic supplier processing in one business day, the buffer can be a couple of weeks of usage; with imported stock it must be months. See domestic vs. imported supply.
What the labs are told
Three things, on a card in every pack: date the vial at first puncture and discard at 28 days; new sterile device for every entry; not for cell culture or UV-based analysis. Point them to the calculators and the SOP template.
Periodic review
Quarterly: reconcile stock against the log, check for stock nearing expiration and push it to high-use labs, review temperature records, and adjust the size mix. Annually: review the supplier qualification. Guidance for the supplier side of this is in the distributor guide, which describes the same disciplines one step up the chain.
Departmental and facility volumes are quoted through the bulk and wholesale program.
All BAC Water Supply products are supplied for laboratory research use only and are not for human or veterinary use.