[labnetwork] Starting Back Up

Tue Apr 21 18:13:52 EDT 2020

Colleagues,
I have been intentionally slow to respond to this inquiry.
The Berkeley NanoLab's present stance is that our city, county, and state
imposed some
of the earliest shelter in place orders in the country, and we continue to
follow them.
We do not yet have a schedule or standard defined for return to research
operations.

Split shifts, alternate days, maintain distance, caution with shared PPE,
etc.
I do not have any bullet points to share that haven't already been
considered.
Though I don't have a unique insight to the common challenges we face,
I found Sandrine Martin's (U Michigan) reply with a plan for staged return
to operations quite constructive and similar to our evolving strategy.

Each of us needs to define our stages and what the measures and timing are
associated with each stage.
This will be a thoughtful and gradual process, with some components unique
to our specific operations,
and with the possibility of having to come to full stop again, at any time.

We will get through this.
My best to all,
Bill

Bill Flounders, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory
http://nanolab.berkeley.edu/

On Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 4:39 PM Sandrine Martin <sandrine at umich.edu> wrote:

> Hello Ron, and all,
>
> We are also in planning mode at Michigan and waiting for the go ahead and
> likely recommendations/restrictions from our state and university officials
> (as of now, our current stay at home order is effective until 4/30). We're
> looking at different sequential stages:
> 1- replenishing our stock of supplies (most were donated to the hospital,
> so we need to make sure we have enough before we move to the next phase)
> 2- staff only, bringing facilities and tools back online
> 3- authorized/independent users only (no training)
> 4- all users
>
> During all of these phases, we are planning for updated protocols that
> will be different from our "old" (pre-COVID - which feels such a long time
> ago....) operation model.
> - additional cleaning, both outside of the lab (where no PPE is worn) and
> inside of the lab
> - updated gowning protocols (face masks required even in our "class
> 10,000" space, double gloving mandatory, garment bags and safety glasses
> not shared among lab users, or heavily cleaned between usage)
> - increased air exchanges and prefilters added before our HEPA filters in
> gowning area .
> - social distancing protocols (hence the "no training" in phase 3)
>     * limiting the number of people in the gowning area at the same time
>     * showing our users the schedule for tools that are in close proximity
> and having guidelines about maximum number of people for each physical area
> - for now, we are looking at relying on users following protocols (rather
> than hard restrictions from our lab management or access control system).
>     * enhancing our training methods so that they rely less on close
> proximity (we already have wiki pages and SOPs for all tools, and online
> quizzes for a few, but we're looking at developing this further, and
> including video training if possible - we don't yet have any of these).
>     * limiting onsite staff presence (at least initially) with rotation
> between two teams, possibly increasing air exchanges in office areas too.
>
> It's definitely still a work in progress - looking forward to hearing
> about other ideas from the rest of you!
>
> Thanks
> Sandrine
>
> On Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 11:50 AM Reger, Ronald K <rreger at purdue.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>>
>>
>> Here at Purdue for the last 3 weeks we have severely curtailed our
>> research efforts at the Birck Nanotechnology Center due to the pandemic, to
>> the point that only a fraction of our facility is being used for projects
>> deemed critical (related to COVID-19 or national interest).  We are
>> preparing to ramp back up once the stay-at-home orders are lifted and this
>> ramp-up presents some unique challenges.  We’re anticipating potential
>> delays in orders from suppliers as they ramp up and we expect that social
>> distancing will still be the norm so process & equipment training will need
>> to be handled differently. We’re just now starting to plan for returning to
>> a full research operation and we’re wondering if you all are developing
>> similar plans?  It would be great if we could share some thoughts and ideas
>> in our community.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks very much,
>>
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>
>>
>> *Ron Reger*
>>
>> *Engineering Manager*
>>
>> Birck Nanotechnology Center | Room 2289 |
>>
>> *Office:*  765.494.6667 | *Email:* rreger at purdue.edu
>>
>> Wiki:  https://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/BNCWiki
>>
>> iLabs:  https://purdue.ilabsolutions.com/homepage/
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> [image: Purdue_University-150_Years_of_Giant_Leaps.png (300Ã—66)]
>>
>>
>>
>> *www.purdue.edu/giantleaps <http://www.purdue.edu/giantleaps>*
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> --
>
> Sandrine Martin, Ph.D.
>
> University of Michigan
>
> LNF Managing Director
>
> 1246D EECS, 1301 Beal Ave
>
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>
> Cell 734-277-2365
>
> Fax 734-647-1781
>
> www.LNF.umich.edu <http://www.lnf.umich.edu/>
>
> @LurieNanofab
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