Life, Health and Safety

Remark: Mrs. Manuela Marik will be the person to contact for most of the things mentioned on this page

• Erste Hilfe / First Aid First Aid (accessible from IAP computers only)

• In case of fire • Verhalten im Brandfall (accessible from IAP computers only)

A fairly complex set of laws and other regulations governs occupational health and safety issues. While a system of regular inspections tries to assure compliance with legal regulations, it is advisable to read the local regulations. The following text gives some guidance, but does not replace any of the legal documents.

Legal regulations: ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzgesetz Allgemeine Arbeitnehmerschutzverordnung

TU regulations:

Labor und Werkstättenordnung (DE) = Laboratory & Workshop Rules
Brandschutzordnung (DE) = Fire Safety Rules

IAP-Regulations:

• Sicherheitsunterweisung (to be signed by a new member of IAP and other relevant people after the safety instruction) unterweisung_2024en.pdf

• Arbeitsplatzunterweisung Personenschutzausrüstung German

• Supplementary regulations: German English

You will need:

• Key
• Desk: your supervisor will show you a desk and computer to use
• Entry in the white pages including a password
• Possibly other accounts for high performance computers, etc.
• Possibly an entry pass to enter the building outside normal opening hours

The guiding principle is a strict separation of things for human consumption (food, drinks, medication) from laboratory stuff, chemicals, samples, etc.

Work and alcoholic drinks don't fit together. A combination of activities in laboratories and workshops and alcohol is strictly unacceptable. This should also be borne in mind after various internal parties and celebrations, where drinks are not limited to Diet Coke.

There are two small kitchens and a staff room for storing and preparing food. In the staff room you can also eat. Please keep these places clean and supervise anything you are cooking. We have had fire alarms because of forgotten pots on a cooker. Please remember a few simple rules:

• In no situation may chemicals, samples and laboratory equipment be brought into staff room or kitchens. Cookers, fridges, dishwashers may not be used with these things.
• Bringing food, drinks, etc. into laboratories is also not acceptable (a few exceptions apply here).
• Personal belongings, especially medications, stored in the fridges need to be marked with your name.
• Anyone using the kitchens or staff room stay there, as long as something is on the cooker or in the microwave.
• Any dirt is cleaned by the person causing it.

We are in a non-smoking building. Therefore smoking is not permitted. If you can't quit (the best solution), ask your fellow addicts for some half-way acceptable solutions to your problem.

Normally, our offices are set up in an ergonomic way. If your back, head or eyes start hurting during work, please tell. In many situations minor adjustments will solve the problem.

A special problem are glossy computer monitors (mostly iMac). These are not permitted by Austrian working codes because you might get into a situation where your eyes rapidly change focus between the screen image and the mirror image. There are stick-on anti-glare films available if needed, but not generally installed, as results have been less than satisfactory.

Important: Do not order new computers with glossy displays. A possible solution for Apple-users is a Mac-mini with some other monitor.

Procurements are normally done through your group leader or with her/his consent. Invoices are processed by Mr. Friedrich Beringer in our office, who will ask you at once which account should be charged.

Items exceeding EUR 1000,– are ordered through our accounting system by Mr. Beringer. In case of urgency (i.e. always) he will give you a PDF-file of the order form for ordering by email.

BBG Web Shop Many things ranging from single transistors to computers or oscilloscopes can be ordered from the BBG Web Shop at a preferential price. Ing. Paul Berlinger (see Electronics) has access and will help you.

Chemicals, Gases For safety reasons these things are exclusively ordered by Mrs. Manuela Marik.

As this is the most dangerous area, many rules and regulations deal with it. A few more important ones:

• Before you use an equipment, instrument, machine or chemical, instruction from a qualified person is required. This will include a discussion of the relevant risks. Then a form must be completed as evidence of this.
• Even after an instruction, manuals should be consulted.
• In case of doubt ask.
• If personal safety equipment is needed, e.g. laser goggles, it is mandatory to use it.
• Laboratory work should not be performed alone. A second person must be present, ensuring quick help in case of an accident. This is especially important outside normal working hours.
• Chemicals and compressed gases are centrally procured and stored. We need to know what is around. For more information on chemical hazards, see the intrawiki page.

You can either use computers belonging to the institute or bring your laptop. Normally, You can plug your laptop into a socket and get it configured automatically. Protection by firewalls is minimal, so take care to have latest software upgrade and virus scanners installed, especially for Windows machines.

We take intellectual property rights and copyright serious. therefore the following points need to be strictly adhered to:

• Any software used needs to be properly licensed.
• Legal software for university owned machines is available through the Campus Software mechanism. For some programs even special “work at home” licenses are available.
• Student licenses may only be used on your own computer.
• The TU network and computers must not be used for the illegal download of music, movies,…
• The operation of server software, file-sharing software, torrents, etc. on computers inside the university is not permitted. There are official Web-servers available.

For more details, see the Acceptable Use Policy. German English

We have a machine shop with professional staff and state of the art machinery. Machines and tools are for exclusive use by the machine shop staff with RARE exceptions, granted by the head of the shop, Ing.Wolfgang Beck. If you need something fabricated, please produce a sketch with measures of the desired object(s). If expensive or very special materials or tools are required, your group will be charged.

Our Electronics shop/laboratory is headed by Ing. Paul Berlinger. He will build special electronic devices not available on the market and repair or modify electronic instruments. If you want to work yourself on some piece of electronics, consult with him for a desk and the instruments/tools needed. He will order components not available and provide support and advice. Orders will be charged to your group.

Shit happens. Even with utmost care, things do go wrong now and then. Depending on type and seriousness of the incident, some of the following needs to be done:

• Make sure injured colleagues are out of the danger zone.
• Alarm emergency services (Ambulance, Fire department).
• Use fire extinguishers.
• Use the material from first aid boxes to help the injured, if possible with the assistance of a trained fist aider.
• Report the incident to your supervisor, the safety representatives and the head of institute. The aim of this is not blame, but a careful analysis leading to measures preventing the same thing from happening again.

Vital information is found on the First Aid Page

If you have familiarized yourself with the necessary equipment and procedures sometime before the incident, this will help.

Informations for Users of IAP Laboratories and for (new) coworkers, generell informations

Please note: to see the (protected) intrawiki pages, you have to be either inside the iap tcp/ip range or you have to log in using the Web Page Login link near the top of the For IAP Users page