Experiment Safety Assessment Form (ESAF) Guidelines

To comply with the ALS regulations, the Principle Investigator or Experimental Leader of a project will be required to fill out the ESAF describing the type of specimen used and the hazards generated during the data acquisition process. The ESAF can be submitted on the ALS Hub of the User responsible for the experiment by hitting the menu “Submit the ESAF”.

Please submit the ESAF at least 14 days prior to performing the experiment if possible.

ESAF Instructions

The ESAF is divided into several sections. Each section must be filled out according to the details of the experiment performed.

1. Details
   • Schedule: On the ESAF, you will be requested to schedule your experiment. Before proceeding, connect with Annie Drouin (adrouin@lbl.gov) and your local NCXT beamline scientist to avoid conflicts with other experiments.
   • Description: Briefly describe the purpose of the experiment and the type of samples imaged at the beamline.
   • Other resources needed: Specify whether you will need access to a Biology or Chemistry lab, to a machine shop or to any other resources available at the synchrotron.
   • Where applicable provide any additional information.
2. Material
   • Select the type of material you plan to bring on the beamline. Select 1): Microorganisms and/or derivatives (including cells, proteins) if you are working with bacteria, yeast or algae from culture, or purified proteins; select 2): Vertebrates and Invertebrates and/or derivatives (including cells, tissues, proteins) if you are planning to bring tissue-derived or culture-derived cells.
   • Disclose whether you are bringing risk-group 3 or risk-group 4 organisms, i.e. prions or live vertebrates.
   • Specify which type of sample will be brought on site and its biosafety risk (link to NIH biosafety risk definition).
   • Specify the amount of specimen and whether it contains recombinant DNA.
   • Specify the status of the specimens on the beamline (generally frozen) and if the material is still viable.
   • Provide a treatment protocol of the cell prior to imaging if applicable to the specimen.
   • Provide the source (e.g. the laboratory) where the material was isolated.
   • Specify whether or not these specimens are pathogenic and if they are fixed prior to arrival at the beamline.
3. Equipment
   • Disclose whether you are bringing any personal equipment for the experiment. If positive, describe the type of equipment.
4. Beamline
   • Provide any additional requests to the beamline personnel.
5. Pre/post experimental plan
   • Provide any information about additional pre- or postprocessing time for samples and the generation of chemical or biological hazards during the experiment.
6. Participants
   • Sign in all planned participants at the experiment.