Before starting laboratory projects all new lab users (employees, students and guests) must receive a basic introduction to work environmental issues at the Department of Geoscience, as well as safety issues related to laboratories.

Head of the Geoscience laboratories, Charlotte Rasmussen, covers the following during the briefing:

• General checklist, including information about insurance etc.
• AU evacuation procedure (i.e. walkthrough the content of an evacuation box).
• Examples of emergency equipment.
• Important phone numbers.
• Escape routes.
• Rules and regulations from the work environment committee (i.e. "Rules and information regarding fieldwork, work in the laboratories and electronic/metal-shops", "Working alone", "Working with HF-acid" and "Pregnant and breastfeeding women").

Lab user signs for receiving the above information. All new lab users are registrated and will recieve mails with information regarding planned maintenance and errors on equipment or infrastructure in the laboratory.

Further instructions must be carried out by a laboratory technologist or other member of our technical staff regarding the specific work process.

Note that students are not allowed to instruct other students.

As a supplement to the 1:1 introductions by the head of the Geoscience laboratories, Charlotte Rasmussen, and an experienced laboratory staff member, we have introduced a new e-learning course to improve the general introduction to safety and some common laboratory procedures at our department.

The content is developed by our local safety committee. Therefore it takes Danish rules and regulations into consideration and contains our local guidelines that apply at Geoscience, Aarhus University. The information provided is divided into different modules, each module ends with a few questions you need to answer.

We expect that a lab-user can finish all modules and tests within 2-3 hours. 

To enroll you in the system you need to send your name and AUID (normally au12345) by e-mail to Charlotte. The system we use for e-learning is supported by the university and therefore does not accept users without an AUID. 

If you want to work with the handheld Bruker XRF: Users must be certified to do so before starting the project. Certification is carried out by going through x-ray safety (1:1) with the head of the laboratories, Charlotte Rasmussen, and passing a multiple choice test. The material is based on 1 video available on Youtube:

• https://youtu.be/ZoEZCput5H4 

Furthermore it is recommended to watch the following Youtube video https://youtu.be/ml1yzdP9rEs in regards to working with the XRF instrument.

Epoxy basically consists of two components: A base (the "resin") and a hardener (the "accelerator"). When these are mixed it turns into a 2-component glue which is incredibly strong once it is dry. Epoxy is therefore used to make thin sections, or casts of minerals, rocks or other materials.

Epoxy work requires a 2-day Danish safety course provided by many technical colleges in Denmark. Alternatively use a certified laboratory technologist to carry out the job for you.

For the department's cleanlab, some very special precautions apply to maintain the level of cleanliness required. Users of the department Cleanlab must undergo further safety training.