Posted on: 21/02/22
Client background
With over 35,000 students split across 5 campuses, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is the 9th largest university in the UK and offers an array of both art and science-based degrees.
Challenge
As a research-based university NTU is required to store human tissue onsite, meaning that they have to comply to Human Tissue Act (HTA) legislation.
Part of HTA legislation requires organisations to record freezer temperatures, including audit trails. This is something that NTU’s ad-hoc manual system could not do and proved inadequate when providing assurance.
Not only that, but the manual recording of freezer temperatures also took up valuable resources and were naturally prone to human error.
Before coming to Contronics, NTU used some automated monitoring, via their building management system; however, this did not record data and only covered some of the labs. Additionally, the alarms would not provide much information about the nature of the problem.
Solution
With an ineffective, time-consuming manual system, NTU conducted an in-depth risk and compliance analysis which found that an automated monitoring system was required.
Reaching out to several suppliers, Contronics was shortlisted as part of the final three.
The initial scope of the project was just for temperature monitoring, however, NTU found that other departments within the university would find automated monitoring beneficial, therefore, it was vital that the system installed should be expandable, cover cleanroom monitoring, be easy-to-use and be installed at a competitive price.
Our system met all of NTU’s requirements, especially data security, ease of use and alarm escalation.
Results
As with any installation, there were a lot of considerations to take. We worked closely with many NTU departments, in particular, IT, to ensure that the system was installed quickly and effectively, and our support team provided detailed training to staff.
Since installing a Contronics system, NTU has benefited from 24/7 monitoring and are confident that their tissue samples are being stored at an optimal temperature, and that our system will alert them in case of an emergency.
The main benefit to Nottingham Trent University is the provision of an audit trail, which ensures they are compliant with the latest HTA legislation.
John Rumbold, who is in charge of the Governance for Human Tissue Act at NTU said:
“We have 24/7 monitoring to ensure that human tissue is stored at the optimal temperature to minimise the chances of loss of a finite and valuable resource. Should anything occur we receive a warning followed by a critical alarm. Bespoke clear instructions can be viewed on the system for each individual freezer and fridge, staff have clear guidelines and know what to do and who to contact. I had the opportunity to meet several monitoring suppliers during this project, all with different USP’s. The Contronics system is easily expandable and will cover all the sensors that we need, which will minimise the need for hardware - lab space is always hard to find, so this is important.”
The initial scope of the project included monitoring laboratories and cleanrooms; however, NTU is now considering temperature mapping services and live sample tracking and monitoring. Our easily expandable system will allow for these extra features to be added on, making it one of the main reasons why Nottingham Trent University chose Contronics.
Talk To Us
As providers of world-leading temperature mapping, monitoring and calibration services, we have worked with countless organisations to ensure that their labs and cleanrooms meet regulatory standards.
For more information, please contact us.
