OCT Santé thermal packaging receives LNE certification

OCT Santé, which specialises in the transportation of biological and pharmaceutical products, has received the official certification of the French National Metrology and Testing Laboratory (LNE - Laboratoire National de Metrologie et d’Essai) for its Thermo Box system, comprising innovative thermal packaging models designed by the company for the transport of category B biological materials.

In April, OCT Santé was granted ISO 9001 certification, version 2008, which covers the company’s health products transportation activities and its logistical services. These two seals of approval strengthen OCT Sante’s position on the biologicals transportation market, currently undergoing a phase of rapid expansion.

Biological materials are classified into two categories, A and B. Category A (ONU2814) is a substance that can cause permanent invalidity or a potentially fatal disease if the substance escapes its packaging and comes into contact with a human or an animal. Category B concerns infectious substances not in category A. They are split into two types: ONU 3291 is biological waste that has to undergo decontamination and ONU 3372 biological substances.

The Thermo Box cool packs developed by OCT Santé make it possible to transport biological products in controlled temperatures in two sizes – 8 litres and 16 litres. They include an internal insulated lining in expanded polystyrene and an external layer of packaging in hydrophobic cardboard. The internal lining includes pockets for inserting and lodging eutectic plates, as well as for the temperature recorder. On the lid, a pre-cut opening enables a temperature recorder to be installed, with a probe immersed in carbonic ice.

The packs comply with ADR (European agreement on the international transportation of dangerous goods by road) and IATA dangerous goods regulations.

‘We subjected these packs to impact and temperature tests and found that both the elements examined behaved well,’ said Laurent Buguet, head of the LNE’s climate mechanics department. ‘We didn’t observe any aesthetic or structural alteration on completion of the tests.’