Tuesday - June 10, 2008

SSRL Experiment Support Group Gets it Done

Experiment Support Group Team Lead Bart Johnson stands outside the powder diffraction station at Beamline 2-1.

by Calla Cofield

The Experiment Support Group is like the veritable NASCAR road crew for visiting researchers at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory: while the researchers drive the experiments, the group keeps SSRL's X-ray and ultraviolet beam lines running optimally, satisfy any short-notice special requests of users, and quickly solve any problems with beam line operations. Before an experiment starts, the group is in charge of aligning and focusing the beam. During a user change over, when time is of the essence, they deconstruct one experiment and set up the next one in a matter of hours. And, this is all done near a circular track of quickly moving objects.

Need the X-ray beam focused to only a few tens of microns wide to analyze an inter-planetary dust sample? Or has the motorized stage moving your delicate sample of Archimedes’ transcriptions suddenly stopped working? Whatever a user’s beam line needs are, the Experiment Support Group is up to the challenge.

"Our bottom line," says team lead Bart Johnson, "is users leaving with the highest quality data achievable."  Read more...

GLAST to Launch Tomorrow

by Kelen Tuttle

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) and its rocket have both passed NASA's Launch Readiness Review, and will launch tomorrow morning!

The long-awaited launch will be broadcast live on NASA TV via streaming video. The coverage begins at 6:45 a.m. Pacific Time, with the launch occurring between 8:45 and 10:40 a.m. 

You can also view the launch with friends and colleagues in Panofsky Auditorium beginning at 8:00 a.m.  All are invited to attend!

World's Fastest Survey?

by Kelen Tuttle

Have you noticed the gray survey box in the right-hand column of SLAC Today? This survey is for employees, users, contractors, visitors and anyone else who spends time on site.

We would greatly appreciate it if you took just a few seconds to answer these questions. After you press the submit button, a dialogue box should appear to confirm that you have successfully submitted the survey.

Beating the Heat

by John Shepardson and
   Maria Gherman

Summer is here and that means it's time to watch for symptoms of heat stress in the form of heat stroke, sunstroke, heat exhaustion, heat rash and heat fatigue.

Heat stress results from exposure to high temperatures, lack of fluids, restrictive clothing and heavy workloads.

Preventing Heat Stress
• Proper hydration: Drink plenty of water throughout the day.

• Proper clothing: Choose clothing that allows cooling while protecting you from the sun.

• Your specific health needs: Schedule work according to how your specific health needs may be at issue during hot weather.

Employees are in the best position to know the early warning signs of heat stress and take appropriate action. Supervisors should also be alert to the signs of heat stress affecting employees and take action before a problem develops.  Read more...

Safety During the Loop Road Closure

by Larissa Williams

The Loop Road closure.
(Click on image for larger version.)

A section of the Loop Road between Buildings 40 and 137 is closed for the installation of new hot water and chilled water piping through mid-July.

Personnel are reminded that this is a construction zone and barriers are there for safety purposes. The only persons authorized to enter or cross the marked areas are the responsible workers and inspection personnel.

Hazard markers around construction or maintenance zones are placed there for our safety, and they mean "stay out." There are many slip, trip and fall hazards on a construction site, in addition to heavy equipment. What looks safe at first may have hidden and unexpected dangers. Safety should override the temporary inconvenience of having to take an alternate route.

Some safety suggestions to avoid hazards are:

• Allow yourself enough time to get somewhere; if you're rushing to a meeting, you might be tempted to take shortcuts over hazard zones.

• Think of alternate routes; if one area to a building is blocked, remember that there are always other entrances that can be used.

• Obey cautions from people in the area; if somebody alerts you to a hazard zone, please don't ignore them.

• Don't assume that just because an area looks safe, it is—hazard markers are never placed in an area for no reason; the dangers might be hidden or just around the corner.

• Assume a safety radius—if a cone has been tipped over, or a tape torn out of position, assume that anything around it might be the hazard zone and avoid the whole area until somebody can fix the markers.

• Ask if you're not sure—construction areas have people responsible for them, check with them if you'd like to know more about the hazard zone.

Learn more about this construction project...

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