Nine planning phases, from the first EH&S contact to the final handover. Confirm the requirements for your institution, equipment and lease.
A Bay Area lab decommissioning schedule depends on the inventory, required clearance work, specialist availability and destination readiness. Use the nine phases below to organize the work with your EH&S team. Institutional checklists are useful references, but each lab must confirm the requirements that apply to its own site.
For a private biotech lab vacating a Mission Bay, South San Francisco or Peninsula lease, include the landlord's handback conditions in the plan. Confirm the required inspections and records before setting a move date; a general checklist cannot establish when a security deposit will be released. For local physical move planning, see our South San Francisco laboratory moving page.
Contact your institutional EH&S office or designated safety adviser before scheduling. Stanford's deactivation guidance and NIH's moving guide illustrate their institutions' notification and clearance processes. Ask your own team to set the required notices, inspections and responsibilities.
Form a decommissioning team with named roles:
Audit every piece of equipment, every chemical container, every biological material in the lab. Tag each item with one of four destinations:
For biotech labs with significant analytical instrument inventories, capture institutional knowledge during this phase. The Triumvirate Environmental decommissioning guide recommends interviewing lead researchers and facility managers during the inventory step to capture knowledge that gets lost when the lab vacates.
Use the inventory and EH&S assessment to identify the specialists needed. Confirm each scope and booking directly, then arrange the equipment move around those handoffs.
| Vendor | Scope | Scheduling Check |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified BSC Service Provider | Assess preparation, decontamination if required, release documents and destination certification with EH&S. | Confirm assessment, preparation and destination appointments. |
| Hazardous Waste Vendor | Classify and remove designated waste using the required transport and documentation pathway. | Confirm pickup and receiving arrangements. |
| Radiation Safety Service | Determine the surveys, material disposition and clearance required for the lab and its equipment. | Confirm the local notice period and inspection appointment. |
| Facilities / Fume Hood Disconnect | Assess clearance, utility isolation, disconnection and destination testing with the responsible facility specialists. | Confirm both buildings and the authorized service teams. |
| Biological Waste Vendor | Remove designated biological waste through the lab's approved pathway. | Confirm packaging, pickup and records with EH&S. |
| IT / Data Sanitization | Apply the lab's data retention and sanitization requirements to designated hardware. | Confirm the required approvals and completion records. |
| Asset-Based Moving Carrier | Physical relocation of equipment released by the lab and its specialists. | Book against confirmed clearance and access windows. |
Have EH&S separate chemicals approved for transfer from materials designated as waste. Plan disposal before the move and confirm the receiving site is ready for retained materials. Ontrack does not transport regulated hazardous chemicals.
Use the institution's waste program or its designated specialist. Retain the documents required for the specific waste shipment. EPA's hazardous-waste transport guidance concerns covered waste shipments; a useful chemical being relocated is not automatically a manifested waste.
Have the lab's biosafety team select the decontamination procedure for the agent, surface and equipment. The WWU toolkit is an institutional example, not a universal chemical recipe. Cabinet interior and filter work must be assessed by the qualified BSC provider with EH&S.
The lab's designated personnel arrange biological waste disposal through its approved pathway. Confirm which materials, containers and records are required before equipment is released to the moving crew.
Ask the responsible Radiation Safety team to determine material disposition, surveys and release requirements. NIH's guide describes its own process, including arranging final clearance inspections at least 48 hours in advance. That scheduling instruction is not a universal requirement that every lab be inspected and cleared 48 hours before moving.
Consult EH&S and a qualified cabinet provider before moving a BSC. They determine preparation, decontamination if needed, release documentation and destination certification for that cabinet. Do not assume a universal two-sticker rule. See our biosafety cabinet preparation guide for the handoffs and supporting institutional guidance.
Cornell's fume hood guidance calls for consultation with the responsible facility and safety teams. Have qualified specialists assess contamination and building hazards, disconnect utilities, and specify destination testing. The moving crew handles only the cleared physical equipment within its written scope.
Identify equipment containing regulated radioactive sources with Radiation Safety. NIH's examples include certain mass spectrometers and gas chromatographs; the instrument name alone does not establish that every unit contains such a source.
Use the final-clean checklist approved by your safety team. Texas Tech's checklist and the WWU toolkit illustrate institution-specific tasks to consider:
Follow the final review process required by your institution and lease. Cornell's Appendix E provides an institutional example. Resolve outstanding items and retain the release records required by the responsible team.
Agree the landlord's handback evidence with the lab and property manager. Keep the required records together so the final walkthrough can address the actual lease conditions rather than an assumed universal checklist.
Coordinate the inventory, specialist work and physical move on one calendar. Items marked for relocation join the moving inventory only after required preparation and clearance. Materials assigned to transfer, waste or surplus follow the authorized pathway selected by the lab. Record who controls each handoff.
Ontrack plans the physical relocation of cleared equipment around the lab's specialist and building appointments. We do not perform hazardous decontamination, radiation clearance or EH&S sign-off. The lab and its qualified providers decide those requirements. Confirm responsibilities, equipment, monitoring and records in the written move scope.
For the full Bay Area lab move scope including the equipment categories that follow decommissioning, see Ontrack Moving's laboratory relocation services. For the matching ULT freezer protocol when freezers are part of the relocate inventory, see How to Move a -80°C Ultra-Low Freezer. For the decommissioning and moving cost categories, see our Bay Area Laboratory Move Cost Guide. For the decommissioning and moving schedule dependencies, see How Long Does a Lab Move Take?. For the broader Bay Area lab vetting framework, see our Bay Area Laboratory Relocation Compliance Guide.
Plan the physical move around your laboratory, EH&S, specialist and building requirements.
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