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# Kirkhollow Analytical Laboratories Ltd

Sample Reception and Handling

Procedure KAL-SP-06 · Revision 4 · Effective 1 March 2026

## Scope

This procedure covers the receipt, identification, storage and disposal of samples submitted to the laboratory for chemical analysis. It applies to everything received at the Braithe Road reception, including samples delivered by courier and samples brought in by clients. It does not cover samples taken by our own field staff, which are dealt with in KAL-SP-11.

## Reception

Samples are received at reception between 08:00 and 17:30 on weekdays and between 09:00 and 12:00 on Saturdays. Outside those hours clients who hold a key may use the refrigerated drop box at the rear entrance.

## Chain of custody

Every delivery arrives with a completed submission form. Reception staff check that the form is signed, that the number of containers matches the number listed on it, and that each container carries a legible client reference. The form is signed and timed on receipt and the top copy is returned to the person making the delivery.

## Condition on arrival

Reception staff record the condition of each container on the submission form before it leaves the reception bench. Anything recorded there that falls outside the limits below goes to the duty chemist before the sample is booked in.

## Temperature

Chilled samples. Where the submission form specifies chilled transport, the temperature of the transport box is measured and written on the form. A box above 8 degrees is accepted, marked, and referred to the duty chemist, who decides whether the analysis can still be reported. A box above 15 degrees is not accepted for microbiological work at all.

## Container integrity

Containers that are cracked, leaking, or filled above the shoulder are photographed on the reception bench and set aside, and the client is telephoned the same day. A leaking container is not opened at reception.

## Storage

## Refrigerated storage

Samples for chemical analysis are held at 4 degrees in the reception cold room and are racked by the day of receipt, not by client. Racks are cleared every Friday afternoon.

## Frozen storage

Samples that require frozen storage are held at minus 20 degrees in the chest freezer in room 4. Nothing goes into the freezer without a completed freezer label, and nothing is stacked above the load line marked inside the cabinet.

## Retention and disposal

Analysed samples are kept for twenty-eight days after the report is issued and are then disposed of by the route set out in KAL-SP-19. Samples held longer at a client's request are labelled with the agreed retention date and reviewed monthly by the laboratory manager.

## Records

Submission forms, condition records and the reception log are kept for six years. The reception log is a bound book: entries are not erased, and a correction is made by a single line through the original, initialled and dated.

## Responsibilities

The laboratory manager owns this procedure. Reception staff carry it out; the duty chemist decides anything it refers to them; and the quality manager audits it twice a year against the reception log and the submission forms.

## Reception staff

Reception staff check every delivery against its form, record the condition of each container, book the submission in, and put the samples into the right storage within thirty minutes of accepting them. They do not decide whether a sample outside the limits above can be analysed, and they are not asked to.

## The duty chemist

The duty chemist is named on the board in reception for each working day. They decide whether a sample that arrived outside the limits can be reported and on what terms, record the decision on the submission form and initial it, and tell the client where the decision changes what the report will say.

## Identification and booking in

## The laboratory number