After Hours Policies
After hours access to the LNF is not automatic. If you anticipate needing to work in the lab after hours, request After Hours Access by following the instructions here. In the LNF, regular business hours are defined as 6am-6pm. “After hours” are 6pm-6am and all day on weekends and holidays. Note that the After Hours Policies quiz needs to be re-taken every three years, along with the other recertification steps for updating your LNF access.
The following policies should be followed when working in the lab after hours.
Contents
Suit Tags
All lab users working in the LNF after hours should wear a nametag on the back of their suit. Suit tag orders take several weeks to arrive after you apply for after hours access. If you need to work after hours before your suit tag arrives, mention this in your request so that we can give you a temporary suit tag. After you receive your permanent suit tag, return your temporary suit tag.
Suit tags are color coded by last name like front name badges and stored in bins in the cleanroom/ROBIN gowning areas. They are purged on the same cycle as front name badges, private chemicals and files on the server (January, May and September): suit tags are removed for users who have not entered that lab space during the past 4 months. If you are about to re-enter the LNF after a long interruption, please create a Helpdesk ticket to ask LNF staff to bring your suit tag(s) back in the cleanroom/ROBIN gowning areas.
Chemical Processing
If you are alone in the lab, you cannot work with chemicals. Chemical processing is allowed only when there is more than one person present in the lab. If you are leaving the lab after hours, you are required to check to make sure you are not leaving another user alone in the lab who is using chemicals. During regular business hours, if the lab is empty and you need to work with chemicals, contact staff to make arrangements. After hours, use the Buddy System to make sure that there will be someone else in the lab during the whole time you are using chemicals.
Buddy System & Indicator Lights
If you are working in the LNF after business hours when there are only a few people in the lab and want to process with chemicals, use the buddy system: identify a “buddy” and ask them to stay in the lab while you are processing. Keep your buddy informed of your location and when you plan to leave the lab, and ask them to do the same.
To notify people when there are few people in the lab, there is an indicator light in every bay that has wet benches. The indicator light is attached to the bench closest to the entrance of each bay. When the yellow light turns on, this indicates that there are fewer than 3 users in the lab.
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If you are working at a bench and the lights come on, please take the time to find the other person in the lab and let them know you are doing chemical processing. Ask them to check in with you before leaving the lab. If they are leaving soon, and you will be alone in the lab, you will need stop working with chemicals.
If you are about to leave the lab and the yellow lights are on, please see if there is another user in the lab doing chemical processing and let them know you are leaving. There is a monitor near the gowning room entrance in the cleanroom with live feeds from the cameras, to make it easier to find people in the lab. Please check the monitor as you leave to make sure that you are not leaving someone alone who is processing with chemicals.
After Hours Users Group & Buddy Calendar
There is a Google calendar that has been set up to allow users to coordinate after hours processing with each other. This calendar provides a platform for user communication so that they can schedule after hours processing together.
To be able to post to the After Hours Calendar, join the After Hours Users Google group:
https://groups.google.com/a/lnf.umich.edu/forum/#!forum/afterhours/join
Click on the + sign on the bottom right hand corner of the calendar to add the LNF After Hours Buddy Calendar to your Google calendars.
You will need to schedule a time slot and provide the following information: 1) When you plan to/wish to start working and for how long; 2) Which room you plan to be in, Cleanroom or ROBIN; 3) Which tool you plan to use. The title of your calendar event should look like: e.g., Room- Tool (Name).
If you see that another user has scheduled a time slot on the calendar that works for you, please email that user in addition to providing the above information in your own overlapping slot on the calendar. We also encourage you to turn on the email notification for this calendar.
The email address for the After-Hours group is afterhours@LNF.umich.edu.
Buddy Policy Addition - February 2017:
To facilitate compliance with the "buddy policy", three changes have been made:
- LNF is making LNF work-study students available after regular business hours if there are no other users available to be present in the lab at the time.
- All users with after-hours access have access to the After Hours User Google group and, therefore, access to the Buddy Calendar
- All users with after-hours access are expected to use the Buddy Calendar
The Buddy Calendar participation is on volunteer basis. However, we do expect all after-hours users to participate because this program needs a critical mass of participants to work. Please make a habit of posting to the calendar any time you are planning to work in the lab after normal business hours, even if you aren’t doing wet processing.
If the buddy calendar shows that nobody plans to be in the lab after hours, you can now request a “buddy” by creating a general Helpdesk ticket (in the LNF Online Services, go to the Help menu, and select Helpdesk). The ticket will be answered by an LNF work-study student within 24 hours. Please make sure to create the ticket at least 24 hr prior to the event. Work study students and staff have committed to be available to help 24/7, if their schedule does allow it. Staff members who will be in the lab after-hours will also be available to be a buddy.
Emergencies
For any emergency occurring after hours, call the LNF Emergency Response Team (ERT) 24 hour on-call number (734) 764-4127. In case of serious injury, fire, or other major emergency, also call 911. Remember that you must not leave the area until the responders have arrived.
Requesting after hours access
To obtain after hours lab access, follow the instructions for requesting after hours access.
