Jennifer Linton
Scientists whose experiments have been deemed hazardous by the BESSRC CAT safety committee are often required to develop and submit a Standard Operating Procedure or S.O.P. before they may run at BESSRC. The standard operating procedure has the purpose of clarifying measures that must be taken to assure the safe running of the experiment. The document should include a brief description of the experiment explaining the general purpose and what are the main hazards. Hazards might be related to chemicals (carcinogen or radioactive, etc), fire hazards, high pressure equipment, lasers, etc.. The SOP should also include a designated area or areas in which work will be done and the names of the people who will be involved. These people must sign the SOP to show their understanding of the experiment hazards and the methods that will be used to mitigate them. If necessary, these people will also have to take training courses as required by the ANL.. The methods of danger mitigation would encompass things such as engineering exposure controls that must be in place and personal protective equipment that must be worn. The SOP should also include information on how hazards will be communicated to those outside of the experiment through use of signage, onsite MSDSÕ etc. All SOPÕs need to include information on required staffing. For example some experiments may need 24 hour coverage or others may require two people to be present for certain operations etc. For experiments with chemical hazards the following also must be addressed: storage, labeling, packaging/transportation, waste disposal, emergency/spill response. After the SOP is submitted to BESSRC it will be evaluated by the BESSRC safety committee and other committee members chosen for their expertise in the area. Once the SOP is approved it must signed by the designated experimenters and posted by the experimental station. Experiments may run more than once on an SOP but ANL rules state they should be checked for accuracy and resubmitted yearly.