Hello, I share a message from Birck and Scifres staff. Scifres will be opening on Monday by noon. Ron and his team will be conducting two web-forums to discuss the SOP and other lab etiquette and pitfalls with the Users. But I would like all of you to each call a your group to a meeting and discuss these things with your group in details. I strongly urge you to do that and not just forward the following to your students by email. —————————————————————————————— The biggest ‘violation’ of COVID protocol the staff has noticed over the last few weeks of test users is the lack of maintaining the 6’ spacing when interacting with others. So we will continue to promote the following: Maintain minimum 6’ spacing at all times. Developing this habit takes time and effort, and we will continue to remind individuals and emphasize the importance of this. The 6:00 – 10:00 am staff-only time supports this, allowing staff members to do equipment and process work without interruption and without exposure to others. The split staff shifts also promotes this and we will optimize and utilize this as much as possible. We’re trying to maintain physical distancing as well as social distancing. Microsoft Teams, Webex and email will be used to have discussions between staff and users as much as possible. These habits are difficult to develop so we will continue to emphasize physical and social distancing. If you happen to be participating in various user meetings over the next few weeks please help us by emphasizing this as well. Thanks, Ron ——————————————————————————————————————————— The image below is disappointing and depressing to me. After all the SOP discussions and all the social distancing warnings, we still see this a LOT. If this does not stop, we will have to start implementing stricter rules, protocols and penalties. thank you, Sunil.
