All beamline operation is subject to a safety approval procedure. This procedure applies to all types of experiments:

  • Peer-reviewed beam time on ESRF and CRG beamlines
  • Commercial beam time (IM, IN, IX or FX)
  • In-House Research (including beamline commissioning).

Safety Approval Form

The Safety Group will examine the application form and define the necessary safety rules.  These safety rules will be communicated via a Safety Approval Form (SAF), which will be subsequently posted at the beamline for yellow and red experiments only.  A SAF contains the following information:

  • the validity period
  • the list of persons carrying out the experiment
  • a colour code:
    • a green  for experiments which present no risk; consequently, the unattended operation mode is allowed;
    • a yellow  SAF is delivered for experiments which need a particular check by the Safety Group at the beginning of the experiment, but where, after this, the unattended operation mode is allowed;
    • a red  SAF is delivered for experiments which present a risk; consequently, the unattended operation mode is forbidden: at least one person must be present at all times (24h/24h) on the beamline.  A red experiment cannot start at the weekend.
  • information on measures to be taken during the experiment
  • the Risk Analysis including comments from the Safety Group
  • the signatures of the Experimental Safety Unit, the Beamline Responsible and an Experimental Hall Operator (EHO).

If a modification is made to the SAF e.g. a change in the name, validity or sample, you must immediately contact the Experimental Safety Unit in order to re-validate your SAF.

If your experiment has been rated yellow or red, once you are ready to start the experiment, you MUST contact an EHO (25 25) to obtain your SAF and the experimental hutch Operator Key (do not wait for the EHO to come to you!) and then you must contact the Experimental Safety team for them to check your experimental set-up (23-69, 20-70 or 22 03).

At the end of the experiment, you must again contact the EHO so that they may take the experimental hutch inhibit key and check inside the experimental hutch.

Risk Analysis

If your experiment has been rated yellow or red, you must fill in a Risk Analysis Form, and return it by email to the Safety Group at least two weeks before the start of your experiment.

Biological Experiments

For information on the classification of biological samples please refer to corresponding web pages.  In particular, if you intend on travelling with your samples, please read the following information.

Radioactive Samples

Special procedures exist for the use of radioactive samples on beamlines other than BM20 (ROBL).

Safety Training

All users participating in an experiment on site (including ESRF staff) are required to follow the on-line Standard Users' Safety Training Course.  The course can be accessed via the ESRF User Portal (SMIS).  This training is valid 12 months.  It is not possible to submit an A form containing a user whose safety training is not valid.

A specific safety training course exists for "remote" experiments: this course concerns only the users who can perform their experiment remotely. This does not replace the Standard safety training which should be performed if the user intends to visit the ESRF at any point for an experiment.

There also exists a safety training course specific for "mail-in" experiments (samples sent to the ESRF Local Contact who performs the experiment). This does not replace the Standard safety training which should be performed if the user intends to visit the ESRF at any point for an experiment.