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The day's sampling schedule must be designed to ensure that the samples arrive at the shipping agency's terminal well before the end of business hours. Since some variables have very limited hold times (Appendices 2 and 3 ), every effort must be made to avoid delays in shipping. The following is the procedure to be followed to maintain the integrity of the samples during transit.
Note: Generally, all samples, except those for bacteriological and taxonomic identification, should be securely packed in large coolers. Bacteriological samples are typically packed in a smaller cooler. Taxonomy samples should be preserved and do not require cooling during shipment.
PROTOCOL
(shipping)
Note: Ice packs should be used as opposed to loose ice or bagged ice. When loose ice melts, the contents of the cooler are free to shift, potentially allowing contamination of samples with melted ice water and/or breakage of glass bottles.
(a) Pack the samples upright in the cooler with at least 1 (winter) to 2 (spring, summer, fall) times as much ice as the total volume of the samples. Ensure that the glass containers are separated from each other by ice packs, plastic bottles or clean packing material to prevent them from shifting, falling over and/or breaking. For some analyses, tissues need to be hard frozen - dry ice is needed.
(b) Complete the laboratory requisition forms, enclose them in a sealed plastic bag, and place them in the cooler on top of the samples. The recommended minimum information that should accompany samples to the laboratory (on each requisition form) includes:
· Name of the source,
· Site name
· EMS site numbers
· Date and time of collection
· Name of collector
· Field measurements
· Comments on sample appearance, weather conditions, and any other observations that may assist in interpreting data.
(c) Seal the cooler with heavy duty packing tape to reduce the possibility of it accidentally opening and to prevent tampering with the samples. Coolers arriving at the laboratory with torn or absent tape alert the lab staff that tampering might have occurred during transit.
(d) Attach a label prominently displaying the destination.
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