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

  • Application for Beam Time at the ESRF or on CRG beamlines
  • Industrial Research (IN, IX or FX)
  • In-House Research (including beamline commissioning)
  • FAB (Flexible Access Beam time).

Safety Training

All users are required to follow the on-line Users' Safety Training Course before they enter on site and before the submission of the A Form.  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.

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.

Safety Approval Form

The Safety Group will examine the application form and define the necessary safety rules.  These safety rules will be returned 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 people 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 a day) on the beamline. Please do not commence a red experiment on a week-end.
  • information on measures to be taken during the experiment
  • the Risk Analysis including comments from the Safety Group
  • the signatures of the Experimental Safety Service, the Beamline Responsible and an Experimental Hall Operator (EHO).

If there is a modification in the SAF e.g. a change in the name, validity or sample, you must immediately contact the Experimental Safety Service 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, 21-76 or 22 03).

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

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).