Shutting down safely for Christmas

To ensure we can all enjoy the Christmas closure and have peace of mind, we must effectively prepare and shut down our work areas safely by 5:30pm on Friday 18th December.

Below are some things to consider when closing down your work area:

• Ensure any electrical equipment that is not required to be on throughout the closure is switched off.
• If any electrical equipment needs to be left on to ensure the safety of the environment (e.g. LEV), ensure the equipment is checked and working as expected prior to closing down.
• Ensure any work equipment or machinery has its guarding and safety measures securely in place and the equipment is isolated from use by unauthorised persons.
• Ensure any substances hazardous to health are stored appropriately according to its safety data sheet as well as ensuring they are not stored with incompatible materials.
• Substances should be stored in a suitable COSHH cabinet or alternative double containment where possible. These cabinets should be secured and only accessible by authorised personnel. 
• Any confidential work items should be locked away securely.
• Any personal items should be securely stored or taken home.
• Empty any vessels that contain water (e.g. kettles, water jugs) and flush out any taps and little used outlets.
• Ensure all taps are turned off and that there are no visible leaks in any water systems.
• Empty any fridges, cupboards and drawers of food items with a low shelf-life. Ideally, these should be completely emptied.
• All waste bins should be emptied to prevent leaving an accumulation of waste over the closure. For further information on waste and recycling at UCL as well as advice on what to do if your waste bins cannot be emptied, refer to UCL Estates.
• Ensure safety signs are securely in place for all areas where hazards may remain.
• Provide the necessary information to security staff on what areas are safe to access and any areas that need to be monitored. This may need to be detailed to your UCL Estates AFM.
• Provide contact details for all high-hazard work areas that may need to be accessed in the event of an emergency.

The above list is not exhaustive, if there is anything you are unsure about when preparing to close down, please contact us for further advice: safety@ucl.ac.uk 

Ionising Radiation

As well as the advice above, see below some additional guidance for laboratories that work with ionising radiation:

• Check that all radioactive material is accounted for, secured (e.g. fridges and freezers are locked) and records are up to date.
• Ensure all orders of radioactive material have been delivered before the closure date and no deliveries are booked for or expected during the Christmas closure.
• Return all outstanding dosimetry to the UCLH Dosimetry Service.
• Work with ionising radiation should only be conducted during the Christmas closure in exceptional circumstances and with the agreement of the local Radiation Protection Supervisor, who should be contactable whilst work is ongoing.

For any other radiation queries prior to the closure, please contact radreporting@ucl.ac.uk 

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!