Lab Operations Library

Practical guides for running a research lab.

No-nonsense, lab-floor advice on chemical inventory, shared equipment, QR workflows and audit readiness — written for the people who actually keep a lab running. Useful whether or not you ever use LevelSixLabs.

Chemical inventory

How to move your lab's chemical inventory off spreadsheets

A practical, step-by-step way to migrate a lab chemical inventory out of a spreadsheet into a single searchable record — without losing a week to data entry.

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Chemical inventory

How to move your lab's chemical inventory off spreadsheets

A practical, step-by-step way to migrate a lab chemical inventory out of a spreadsheet into a single searchable record — without losing a week to data entry.

6 min read

Equipment booking

Preventing double-booked equipment in a shared lab

Why shared-equipment clashes happen, and how to stop them for good — conflict prevention, training gates and booking from the bench.

5 min read

QR workflows

QR-coding your lab equipment: a practical guide

A simple way to put a QR code on every instrument so anyone can scan to see its record, book it, or report a fault — no app to install.

4 min read

Audit readiness

Getting audit-ready without the paperwork pile

Audit prep is painful when records are scattered. Here's how to keep chemical, equipment, service and training records traceable so an inspection is a non-event.

6 min read

Audit readiness

What "controlled document" actually means for a lab SOP

A shared folder full of protocols is not document control. What the term means in practice — identity, version, approval, distribution, retirement — and how to get there without a quality department.

6 min read

Safety & incidents

What a COSHH assessment actually has to contain

COSHH doesn't ask for a form — it asks a set of questions about a task. Here's what a workable assessment has to answer, and why copying the safety data sheet isn't one of them.

7 min read

Safety & incidents

RIDDOR: what is actually reportable, and by when

Most lab incidents are not RIDDOR-reportable, and most labs are unsure which ones are. A plain-English guide to the categories, the deadlines and the records you have to keep either way.

7 min read

Waste & disposal

The hazardous waste consignment note, explained

What the note is for, who fills in which part, what happens to the copies, and why the four UK nations don't do it the same way.

6 min read

Sample management

Freezer inventory and sample chain of custody

Why freezers fill with samples nobody can identify, and the small number of records that stop it — position, lineage, freeze–thaw history and who held the vial.

6 min read

Sustainability

LEAF and SPARKHub compared: which lab sustainability framework fits

Two UK lab sustainability frameworks, built on different assumptions. What each one asks for, how the levels work, and why a lab might sensibly do both.

6 min read

Reading is good. Doing is better.

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