A couple of important points - labelling in the clean labs. This is what I brought up in the Celtic meeting after the HF awareness course but some people weren't present and it's also good to have it in writing. Everything must be labelled properly - this includes initials or name, the chemical in the container or the process associating with the chemicals, and the date it was aliquoted. This last part is very important. I understand for many samples, they are very briefly in the beakers and it's very uncomfortable writing in 24 or more small beakers so many details, so the compromise is - if a sample is going to be in the container for longer than 1 week it needs a date. Anything that bigger that will be in storage such as a chemical aliquot absolutely needs a date. I will begin chasing people for this, if a large container does not have a date, I will dispose of it, especially if it has nitric acid in it. We've all the old bottles from who knows when, and we want to avoid that happening in the future. If you are currently away or unavailable, please drop me an email and we can wait until you return. If one week before the safety audit, there are still unmarked chemicals or samples, they are going in the bin, no ifs or buts.

A second important point is labelling in the instrument rooms. This is a big aspect we struggle in. Absolutely no sample tubes are labelled, they only have a vague identification code that only their user knows, but who is the user? No initials, so we have no clue. How long have they been there? Nobody can ask since there's no initials. A couple of months back, I emptied racks upon racks of samples in the prep room, and they were so old that nobody even noticed they were gone, besides the space opening up. That shouldn't happen. If you are going to be running your samples on the machine, unless you are going to be disposing of you sample tubes within 2 days then they need a date, the chemical in them, and your name/ initials. Absolutely no post-it notes. If you are going to label the rack or container they are in, it must be in sharpie (you can just use ethanol to wipe it off) and they need to return to said container within a day. I will once again start binning things if I find something unlabelled. If it has your initials, then I can at least contact you about it and we can discuss when it should be binned and where it should be stored if you need it longer than 1 week. If it doesn't have your initials, I will not be chasing people and it's going straight in the bin. Once again - if one week before the safety audit, I find anything unmarked lying around, immediately in the bin, no emails, no notice, straight to be bin.

Going back to chemicals - any reagents from the prep room fridge and the instrument room fridge (contents currently upstairs in the 3.01 cold room). Many are old, some are spilled, some are unlabelled without a date or name, only a vague initial. I will not be chasing people, asking who it belongs to, what RA it could be linked to. When you can, please start going through anything that could be yours, cleaning the container and getting a new bag if anything has spilled, labelling it properly (date, initial, process/chemical) and providing me with info on what's inside. If something says "standard 1" that tells us nothing. If there isn't one already then we need a SDS and a RA associating with the chemical, as well as a purchase date. Everything will need a justification to keep, and if it's staying, we will need all those details. I will once again give everyone a week or two to do this, please feel free to contact me and we can go through it together, but a week before the safety audit, anything and everything that is unlabelled is going in the bin.

Don't forget - if any new chemicals come into the lab, there needs to be a RA and SDS provided before it touches Celtic territory. When a new bottle is opened, it also needs to be dated with when it was opened. Most chemical bottles include a little section where you can write these details down. If not, then just on the side of the bottle is good. This is standard lab practise, nothing extraordinary.

Some minor points - the training log will be changed. It was very well brought up in the HF awareness course that the safety auditor will want to see two dates, one for the risk assessment and one for the day training was approved. That means you were observed after training and both you and the person training you thought were competent and comfortable enough to do the process on your own. Don't worry, I will change the log for this at the moment, it's just something for the future - when you're being trained in a new process, there will just be 2 dates that need to be filled in - one date will be signed by you (the person being trained) to say you've read the risk assessment, and a second date will be filled in by the person training you. You just need to date it once to say you've read the RA, and then your trainer will date when they trained you.

PPE is an important one - I will do a wash of any dirty lab coats, and I will put clean ones in the visitor slots. Please make sure you wear your PPE, especially in the instrument rooms. That's a simple one we could get a comment on if we forget about.
I know many people have been asking for their own individual lab coat (if they don't have one already) but if you're not in the lab every single day month in and month out, we don't have the capacity to give you your own. This is why we have visitor lab coats, if you're only coming in once every 2-3 months then it's not possible to have your own at the moment. When more arrive, I will contact the people asking immediately and give you your own. I'm sorry to bring this up but people often ask and I feel bad that it's always the same answer but it's just how the situation is. This is just to remind people since people contact me often and the answer will be the same until more arrive. When that happens, I will let everyone know.

Sofiya Valkova (hi/ei)

Technegydd Ymchwil

Ysgol Gwyddorau'r Ddaear a’r Amgylchedd

Prifysgol Caerdydd

Prif Adeilad, Plas-y-Parc

Caerdydd CF10 3AT

Ffôn : +44 (0)29 2087 76647

Ebost: valkovas@caerdydd.ac.uk

Mae'r brifysgol yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

Sofiya Valkova (she/her)

Research Technician

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Cardiff University

Main Building, Park Place

Cardiff CF10 3AT

Phone: +44 (0)29 2087 76647

Email: valkovas@cardiff.ac.uk

The university welcomes correspondence in Welsh or English. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.