There may be a time when you may have to change the location of your lab, may be due to renovation of old space or permanent movement to a new space. Under such circumstances it becomes utmost essential to relocate as smoothly as possible owing to the regulatory and compliance issues between labs and authorities.

The relocation of a clinical lab requires deliberate, careful and documented steps which must be addressed in a method that ensures a continuance of mission capability. A small lab relocation may take a couple of months in planning while a big lab relocation can take up to a year in planning and finalizing. It is important to have strong planning that ensures that the execution does not falter or fail in the future.

Below you’ll see the steps that should be considered while relocating your lab:

• Planning the move – The planning of the said relocation should start months in advance
• Scheduling the move – With all planning said and done, the schedule of movement must be done in such a way that it hampers the least business operations
• Coordinating the move in advance – Have coordinated meetings between your internal team, vendors and all stakeholders in the movement process
• Preparing and marking inventory in the lab – List our all equipment in the lab and number them
• Identifying each and every part of the inventory – Some lab equipment may have more than one part, identify them accordingly and number them correctly
• Taking decision if some inventory is to be retired – This is a good time to take a decision if some of the equipment is to be retired and a new one be purchased for the new location
• Making regulatory documents – The business of pathological labs and the medical field in general is highly regulated, make sure you have all regulatory documents ready beforehand as may be required by your state laws, our country laws
• Decontamination of items and packaging – All packaging should be cleared of any contamination to ensure there is no risk of further contamination
• Preparing timelines for movement with the vendors – Ensure the timelines of movement are fixed and agreed in advance between all key stakeholders. These timelines must be communicated to everyone else in the team and notices be put across the lab well in advance
• Ensuring safe handling of chemicals and samples – Make sure you have high grade packaging available for handing samples and chemicals
• Ensuring hazardous material is safely disposed – Every lab has some or the other chemical that may be considered hazardous for common people. This hazardous chemicals needs to be disposed in a way as prescribed by the government to reduce any chance of contamination
• Ensuring all packages and inventory is numbered and transported – On the day of the movement ensure all packing is labelled, numbered and transported
• Have design ready for new site – Before you move into a new location, ensure you have a design and layout ready for the location
• Re-installing the lab equipment at new site – The packaging and inventory must be done at new site as per the design accepted and available with everyone
• Addressing obstacles in the movement – Nothing can be fool proof, even in such a meticulously planned movement there may be a few things that might shock you. Be open to such situations and address any such obstacles as and when they are faced

At the end of the day, the relocation is not something that you’ll do every day. It may be a once or twice in a lifetime affair. So don’t forget to have fun as you get to learn from these new experiences.