Dear Birch Research Community,

Due to the inclement weather we have reached a point where it would be difficult or impossible for an emergency vehicle to get to our building in a timely manner.  This would include fire trucks in the event of a fire or hazardous gas leak, and an ambulance in the event of a personal accident within our building.  Therefore, for the safety of our people and facilities, we are immediately restricting work within our cleanroom and labs to be non-hazardous work only.  Any work requiring hazardous gases (toxic, flammable, or pyrophoric) is not allowed, and all fume-hood work is suspended.  Non-hazardous processing, characterization, and analysis may continue.

We realize this places a burden or research project flow but by these short-term restrictions we’re keeping safety as our number one priority.  We fully expect this restriction to be short-term, and all normal processing will be reinstated once our driveways and roadways are cleared.  We will put out another announcement when this occurs.

Thanks for your cooperation and for keeping Birck safe!

Birck Safety Manager