July 2020 - Bnc-facility-notice

Welcome Back!
by Reger, Ronald K 29 Jul '20

29 Jul '20

Dear Birck Research Community, Welcome back to Birck! We've all had several months of learning how to deal with a global pandemic, and through the leadership of Purdue & Birck we have put measures in place to allow research to resume under special conditions/precautions. All of our labs, including the cleanroom, have special Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that must be followed in order to promote a safe work environment under the continued threat of COVID19 exposure. We are not operating in a 'business as usual' mode now, but rather under precautions and safety approaches to protect one another and reduce the chance of exposure. If you need to work in a lab you must review that lab's SOP and sign a compliance document. If you want to work in the cleanroom please contact me and I will guide you through the steps to get qualified. None of us has experienced this prior to the COVID pandemic so developing new safety practices and habits takes time and frequent reminders. Therefore, as a reminder when you're working in Birck, please remember to: 1. Wear a face mask 2. Maintain 6' social distancing in all person-to-person interactions..... discussions in hallways, labs, even the cleanroom. 3. Honor the maximum 3 persons allowed in the gowning room at one time 4. Honor the one person per air shower rule at all times 5. Frequently sanitize your hands with provided sanitizer located throughout the building 6. Honor the one-way designations in our hallways 7. Remind one another when you see violations. In particular the 6' spacing rule is a difficult habit to develop, so when you see others violating it please provide a gentle reminder that the social distancing rule must be maintained, for everyone's safety. Purdue has just established the "Protect Purdue Health Center" which is online and a call center to deal specifically with COVID questions, exposures, and concerns. There are numbers to call, and the information is located here: https://protect.purdue.edu/ Take a look when you get a chance as there is a wealth of information about Purdue's approach to providing a safe learning, research, and living environment. And definitely contact them if you think you may have been exposed at some point. As always, we're here to enable great research so please let us know if you have suggestions for improvements. Thanks, Ron & the Birck Team

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Equipment Training in the Birck Center
by Reger, Ronald K 09 Jul '20

09 Jul '20

Dear Birck Research Community, There has been guidance issued across campus relative to using Enhanced PPE in research when individuals cannot maintain the minimum 6’ spacing while doing certain tasks. Please see more information here: https://protect.purdue.edu/updates/guidance-for-enhanced-ppe-for-close-up-p… One area called out in this guidance is ‘user training on instruments.’ The enhanced PPE listed includes a surgical mask, face shield, nitrile gloves (or equivalent), and lab coats (optional). In our Birck cleanroom we already don masks, gloves, and the cleanroom gown. Additionally we have 9 air changes per minute which continues to supply filtered air to the entire cleanroom and we maintain a positive pressure relative to the external hallway. The only Enhanced PPE item that we don’t use on a routine basis is the face shield. Therefore we are implementing a tool training protocol that requires the use of a face shield by both the engineering staff trainer and the new user trainee. For now we are also implementing a protocol that will limit training sessions to one trainee at a time. Note, we are working to develop other methods of training including video taping and very detailed SOPs for equipment operation, and these will be tested in the near future. With the cleanroom opening up under our new SOP protocol we anticipate many new users, and a high demand for training on equipment. Please use iLabs to register/log your training requests. We want to emphasize two things for this new training scenario: 1. Since it has been many weeks of down time we want to ensure we train users who have an immediate and/or urgent need for the tools. Please be considerate of your fellow researchers and don’t ask for training until you need it. 2. Due to the high demand, please make sure you’re ready for your training session when it is scheduled. If for any reason you can’t attend your training please cancel it as soon as possible so another might take your time slot. As we move toward a full research facility, albeit under these extraordinary COVID conditions, we are trying to accommodate as many people as possible. As always, work with your engineering staff member and please stay safe! Your feedback is sought and welcome as we move into this next phase. Thanks, Ron

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Cleanroom SOP Discussion: Make-Up Session
by Reger, Ronald K 06 Jul '20

06 Jul '20

Dear Birck Cleanroom Users, Now that the Birck cleanroom has an approved SOP, we have had over 90 individuals participate in the SOP discussion Webex meetings, and they have submitted their signatures for access. We conducted 3 Webex sessions last week, and we are scheduling another this Wednesday, July 8th, at 1:00 pm. All cleanroom users must participate in one Webex SOP discussion meeting to get reinstated into the cleanroom. If you have not yet participated in a Webex SOP review meeting I am offering this make-up session Wednesday afternoon. If you want to participate in this Webex meeting, PLEASE SEND ME A REQUEST via email. I will then send you pre-read materials and a link to connect into the meeting. Thanks, Ron Reger Engineering Manager Birck Nanotechnology Center | Room 2289 | Office: 765.494.6667 | Email: rreger(a)purdue.edu<mailto:rreger@purdue.edu> Wiki: https://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/BNCWiki iLabs: https://purdue.ilabsolutions.com/homepage/ ______________________________________________________________ [Purdue_University-150_Years_of_Giant_Leaps.png (300?-66)] www.purdue.edu/giantleaps<http://www.purdue.edu/giantleaps>

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