Project Students Undergraduate Students working on Projects in the Department of Physics

1. Project StudentsUndergraduate Students working on Projects in the Department of Physics Health and Safety information

2. Your Supervisor Your Project Supervisor is your primary contact for advice and guidance.

3. You are likely to be involved with- • Working in laboratories/offices; maybe outside; away from the campus. • Valuable/Sophisticated/Sensitive/Hazardous equipment. • Fume cupboards/hoods • Carrying out a Risk Assessment.

4. And: First Aid [please report all incidents]. Chemicals. Personal Protective Equipment [PPE]. Electricity. Radiation. Magnets and magnetic fields. Cryogenics. High Vacuum/Pressure. Specialised apparatus [seek advice].

5. First Aid • The department has several first aiders. • Security staff are trained first aiders.

6. Chemicals • Most laboratory chemicals are hazardous. • COSHH [control of substances hazardous to health]. • Care with chemicals. • Learn chemical symbols. • Learn how to dispose of waste chemicals. Yellow triangles = advisory- warnings

7. PPE • What is it? • How it should be used. • When and where to use it. Blue symbols = Mandatory – do it.

8. Electricity • Hazards. Shock. Burns. • What is safe? Voltages less than 25 V. Used in protected environment. • What you can and can’t do. Connect cables and plugs. Y Dismantle powered equipment. X

9. Magnetic fields & Magnets • Where? • NMR • Squid Magnetometers • High strength permanent magnets [Emats].

10. Offices • What hazards are there in offices? • Seating • Your workstation • Pointing devices • Environment

11. Radiation Where do we find it? • X-Ray generators. • High voltage systems – Vacuum. • Lasers. • High power light sources. • Radio frequency generators. • Radioactive sources. New IAEA /ISO symbol for internal component labelling

12. Cryogenics/Heat • Cryogenic fluids • Transferring • Cold surfaces • Furnaces • Flames • Hot surfaces

13. High Vacuum and Pressure • UHV apparatus • High pressure cylinders • Transfer and handling

14. Specialist Equipment • Seek permission – advice before attempting to use. • Examples of these : Laser machining centre Electron microscopes NMR

15. Risk Assessments You must prepare a risk assessment for your project. Briefly – a risk assessment is a method of finding the acceptable level of RISK for a task / process / project. It is developed by analysis of the HAZARD(S) and the LIKELIHOOD of the hazard leading to harm. [to an individual, the organisation or the environment].

16. Risk Assessment - Procedure HSE Publications Five Steps to Risk Assessment • Define task and hazards. • Who is at risk? • Determine the Level of risk. • Record result, and Implement the assessment • Review.

17. HAZARDS • Heat - liquid, gas, object. • Cold - liquid, gas, object. • Sharp - tools, object, edge, point. • Heavy - equipment, object. • Toxic - chemical, gas, substance, liquid. • Noise - machine, tool, equipment. • Asphyxiant - reduced air, gas mixtures. • Choking - gas, smoke, dust, chemical. • Physical - poor seating / posture.

18. Risk Control To enable the consequences of the effect of the Hazard to be reduced to - AS LOW AS POSSIBLE

19. Risk Control Risk control is a method of managing the risk with the primary emphasis on controlling the hazards at source. For a risk that is assessed as “high”, steps should be taken immediately to minimize risk of injury. The method of ensuring that risks are controlled effectively is by using the “hierarchy of controls”. The Hierarchy of Controls are:

23. Any Questions ?