If you have questions regarding our facility that are not adequately answered on this website, please feel free to ask questions.
Safe Conduct of Experimental Work
Stop Work Policy
Everyone at Argonne has what is called, “Stop Work Authority.” That means that if you see a potentially unsafe situation, you should feel authorized to prevent an accident from happening by telling those working to “Stop Work” so that the unsafe situation can be made safe or corrected.
If a potentially unsafe situation occurs, you should alert BioCAT Staff after using your ‘Stop Work’ Authority. If you are not comfortable using your “Stop Work” authority for any reason - please, find a BioCAT Staff member or you may feel free to call a Floor Coordinator (2-0101) for assistance. If at any time, you are not comfortable performing a task, stop what you’re doing and ask a member of the staff for assistance.
Experiment Safety Guidelines
The ESAF (Experimental Safety Assessment Form) is the Chief Safety Document for your experiment while at BioCAT. The ESAF details ‘who’ is authorized to be doing ‘what’ during your visit to BioCAT. It authorizes the users listed to do a particular set of tasks with a particular set of samples, chemicals and equipment.
No User may begin work or enter the Wet-Lab, Dry-Lab, or Experimental Floor Area and D-hutch before their training is complete and their ESAF has been posted!
If you have samples that need immediate attention to be transferred into a Wet-Lab freezer or refrigerator before your ESAF is posted, please ask a BioCAT Staff member to do this for you.
Any deviations from what is listed in the ESAF scope, samples, materials, or equipment must be reported to BioCAT Staff before they occur - so that the ESAF may be modified by BioCAT Staff and re-approved by Argonne Safety Personnel.
Things that must be reported to BioCAT Staff so that the ESAF can be modified include:
- Additions or subtractions of the Users listed on the ESAF.
- Additions or subtractions in the samples or chemicals or required for the experiment.
- Additions or subtractions in the equipment required for the experiment.
- Adjustments to the protocols (SOP’s) outlined in the ESAF.
All Users on-site must abide by the experimental plans outlined in their ESAF(s).
User will assemble in the BioCAT Conference Room in the BioCAT LOM for a pre-experiment check-in where the ESAF will be printed by BioCAT Staff once all Users are present and ready to begin work. Users will be asked to review their ESAF(s) and verify participants, samples and chemicals, equipment, and protocols. Your ESAF(s) will be posted near your experiment — either on the D-hutch door, or on the Wet-Lab door(for Wet-Lab only/ no X-ray ESAFs) by the APS Floor Coordinator before you are permitted to start any work at APS.