Safety Update
improvements to CFN safety
January 30, 2024
Wai-Lin Ng
Happy New Year 2024! As a leader in nanoscience research, our user facility also strives to maintain excellence in operations and a healthy safety culture. The CFN emphasizes the importance of communication among the staff and users, taking advantage of their diverse backgrounds and experiences, and a commitment to achieving safety and compliance when conducting research. As a user, you are an integral part of our work environment. The following highlights a few of the Lab’s conduct-of-research principles with examples of how they apply to you.
- Everyone is personally responsible for ensuring safe operations. You should know the hazards that your work activities create better than anyone else. Once a proposal has been allocated, the PI or user should submit a safety approval form (SAF) for their work activities as soon as possible; this should be done at least one week prior to scheduling facility access to allow sufficient time for a safety review.
- Hazards are identified and evaluated for every task. Users should identify the hazards associated with all materials they are bringing or using at the CFN in the SAF. They must also provide sufficient information to assess the experiment or work processes, focusing on specific hazards and risks.
- A questioning attitude is cultivated, and a healthy respect is maintained for what can go wrong. As a guest researcher, you will be provided with training, safety requirements, and processes that are there to protect you, your co-workers, the facility, and the environment. If you are unsure about a procedure, please STOP and ask questions.
- Workers raise safety concerns because trust permeates the organization. Anyone can respectfully challenge unsafe behavior; speak to your co-worker, CFN staff, or your point of contact if you see something that does not seem right. These challenges are accepted as opportunities for improvement.
- Leaders value the safety legacy they create. Don’t be surprised if you are asked by a manager or science group leader to talk about your experiment and how you prepared to work safely. These engagements are meant to coach, mentor, and reinforce expectations about safety.
The CFN has a robust operational and administrative infrastructure that supports your research experience from concept to project completion. Safety is fully integrated into all aspects of the work. Prior to being granted independent use of CFN facilities, every new user is trained in all general and work-specific CFN operations and safety procedures. New users are paired with an expert mentor for instrument operations, hazard identification, and response.
Wishing you a productive and exciting year of research at the CFN!
— Wai Lin Ng
Manager, ES&H
Energy and Photon Sciences Directorate
2024-21705 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
