Pipetting for a Lifetime: The Importance of Ergonomics
Pipetting is one of the most common and repetitive activities performed in laboratories throughout the world. Understanding the risks of injury and techniques and tools available to reduce that risk is important to lab personnel everywhere.
Risks of Injury
Ergonomics is the science of fitting the job to the worker. Poor ergonomics can result in musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) — injuries to muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, and spinal discs. Repetitive strain injury (RSI), a subset of MSD and a painful and sometimes permanent condition, is caused by repetition and excessive force.
Studies have found that laboratory personnel spend an average of two hours a day pipetting, a total of 500 hours a year. The same studies determined that more than 1.3 hours of pipetting activities per day increased the risk of injury.
Four main risk factors contribute to MSDs and RSIs: environment, posture, force, and repetition.
Environment and Posture
Pipetting takes place in a variety of work environments — at the lab bench, in manufacturing facilities, and in biosafety cabinets, clean environments, and other work areas. Wherever possible, remove impediments and arrange your workspace to create conditions conducive to good posture.
This graphic portrays examples of poor and good pipetting postures.
Force
Manual pipetting requires force to grasp the pipette; attach pipette tips; depress, hold, and release the plunger; and eject the tips. Be aware of any pain in the hands, elbows, and shoulders from strained muscles and joints.
To help reduce pipetting forces:
- Regularly clean and lubricate pipettes
- Choose pipette tips that fit your pipettor correctly and eject easily
- Select pipettes that fit comfortably in your hand
- Find pipettes that require less plunger force
- Use electronic pipettes if your workload exceeds five microplates per day
- Opt for electronic pipettes with index finger action and electronic tip ejection
Repetition
Pipetting is a repetitive activity, so reducing the number of individual and repeated movements can help reduce the risk of injury.
- For aliquoting, use a multi-channel or electronic pipette with mixing functions
- When using 384-well microplates, opt for a 16-channel or 384-well format pipette
- For processing more than five microplates per day, choose electronic pipettes with multi-dispensing functions
- Consider using an automated liquid handling device or reagent dispenser if your workload is 10 to 50 microplates per day
- For varying formats, replace single pipettes with multi-channel pipettes that have adjustable tip spacing
Thermo Scientific ClipTip Pipetting Systems
ClipTip Pipettes are used exclusively with ClipTip Pipette Tips to create an ergonomic liquid handling system. ClipTip technology provides:
- Extremely low tip attachment and ejection forces
- Comfortable use with low required force
- Complete tip seal on every channel
- Reproducible results between assays and users
F1-ClipTip Manual Pipettes
Designed to optimize user comfort, safety, and pipetting consistency, F1 ClipTip Manual Pipettes are available in multiple styles and capabilities. Choose fixed- or variable-volume single-channel pipettes with capacities from 10 to 1,000 µL. Choose eight- or twelve-channel manual multichannel pipettes with a variety of ranges between 1 and 300 µL.
E1-ClipTip Electronic and Equalizer Pipettors
Switching from manual to electronic pipettes or automated dispensers can improve user comfort and reduce repetition and risk of injury.
Find E1 ClipTip Pipettes with volume ranges from 0.5 to 1,250 µL and with 8, 12, or 16 channels. Find E1 ClipTip Equalizer Pipettes with adjustable tip spacing with 6, 8, or 12 channels. Adjustable tip spacing lets you transfer samples between virtually any tube, rack, microplate, or horizontal gel box format.
Pipetting Doesn’t Have to Be a Pain
Pipetting can be a more comfortable and safe experience with the combined ergonomic elements of Thermo Scientific E1-ClipTip Electronic Pipettes, featuring:
- Interlocking ClipTip tip attachment
- Index finger pipetting action and electronic tip ejection
- Adjustable finger rests for left- and right-handed users
- Rotating display to help you maintain a neutral pipetting position in any environment
- Multi-dispensing functionality to reduce repetitive movements
Contact your local Fisher Scientific sales representative to try one of our ergonomic liquid handling options or sign up for a Pipetting Techniques or Ergonomics seminar.
Learn more about Thermo Scientific liquid handling solutions at fishersci.ca/handleanything.
