Alchemist
Thank you so much Rachel for your important conclusion on the impact of siting of refrigerators within ISO classified areas. Sometimes the balance between facts and speculations is a tough game and in such instances nothing beats objective, published evidence.
I would like to mention one aspect which although not necessarily related to refrigerator function per se can also be indirectly linked to such devices. Refrigerator door gaskets can be breeding grounds for microbiological growth, especially fungi (especially if gaskets are black in colour – hard to detect) – so a robust cleaning and disinfection programme that takes this into account would be essential. This is especially important if the refrigerator is used to store vials for aseptic manipulation (any contamination picked up during opening can compromise transfer disinfection of such vials).
Also as Rachel said, siting of refrigerators close to low-floor extracts is also very important as any potential contaminants (including viable particles) will be sucked in and safely extracted without risk of being pushed to areas around the room with the turbulent air-flows. Such siting would therefore also work as a ‘risk containing’ mechanism for such eventualities.
