Autoclaves are located in rooms 221C, 324C and 424C of the ILSB
Autoclave Operating Procedures
Place all material to be autoclaved in a loosely sealed orange autoclave bag. All bags should have autoclave indicator tape placed on the outside and be placed in an autoclavable secondary tray. Secondary trays are available by each of the autoclaves. Use large aluminum pans for orange bag waste and please use the small pans for autoclaving liquids. Separate liquids from solids and autoclave separately. Make sure lids on all bottle are loose. Do not crowd large number of items in tray- in order for all items to reach the appropriate temperature, one must allow sufficient air/steam circulation.
Make sure chamber pressure is at 0 before opening the door.
Place items to be autoclaved in the autoclave and close the door. Select your program.
Set time – typically 20 minutes.
Temperature should be set at 121 deg C already, but double-check and change if necessary.
Set cycle: If liquid, set “liquid cycle” or “slow exhaust”. If dry, set “dry cycle” or “fast exhaust” + dry time.
Start the cycle.
At the end of the cycle, check that: a. the chamber pressure is at 0; b. the control panel indicates it is OK is open door.
Remove contents using gloves and immediately tighten all caps.
Waste disposal
All biohazardous waste must be autoclaved prior to disposal. Biohazardous waste must be segregated from regular trash in a red or orange biohazard bag. when full, seal the bag loosely with autoclave tape and sterilize using the wrapped setting on the autoclave. Make sure you sign the autoclave usage log which is found next to the unit. After your waste has been sterilized, allow to cool and place into a heavy duty, black, 3 mil contractor bag for disposal. Do not overfill the black bags, they need to be handled several times before they are finally disposed of. Every time they are moved is a potential for injury if the bag is too heavy. Place the bag into the trashcans labeled Autoclave waste in the hallways for disposal by the evening cleaning crew.