Pre-beamtime

The Principal Investigator or Alternate Contacts need to complete the Session Investigators form in UAS. In order to do this:

• All those planning to come to Diamond must be registered in UAS
• Must have watched the health and safety video and completed the test. 

Session Investigators and the ERA must be submitted no later than 15 working days before the session starts. The number of users eligible for travel and subsistence will derive from the ERA grading. Formal session booking cannot take place without the ERA having been graded.

If the Session Investigators form is submitted late, it may not be possible to make the required arrangements in time for your session start. Where no form is submitted by the session start time, the session will be cancelled.

Once the Session Investigators form is submitted, any changes must be made by email to the User Office. All changes are made at the discretion of the User Office and repeated or late changes may not be possible. 

The Principal Investigator or Alternate Contacts need to submit the ERA (Experimental Risk Assessment) in UAS.

All samples and equipment that will be brought to Diamond must be specified in the ERA. If it is necessary to bring your own sample environments this must be discussed with your local contact well in advance of your beamtime and declared on the ERA where required.

The ERA, alongside your Session Investigators, must be submitted no later than 15 working days before the session start date. If this is submitted late, it may not be possible to make the necessary arrangements for your experiment.

The Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) team will review the submitted ERA. Risk levels will be based on safety, complexity and compliance requirements. The ERA will be graded into one of the following categories according to risk:

Low (Green): the session has no restrictions. 3 users may be eligible for travel and subsistence. This is the default support unless further approval has been granted.

Medium (Yellow): the session has specific restrictions or requirements (e.g. supervision, monitoring, special controls/conditions, checks, sample count-in/count-out, records, etc.). No more than 4 users may be eligible for travel and subsistence. 

High (Red): the session has specific restrictions or requirements (e.g. supervision, monitoring, special controls/conditions, checks, sample count-in/count-out, records, etc.). No more than 4 users may be eligible for travel and subsistence. 

Not Permitted (Black): the session cannot go ahead as currently planned. Please discuss with your local contact as soon as possible to resolve any issues raised.

Eligibility for funding is detailed in the Financial Support & Expenses Procedure for Diamond Users

Rules and Procedures

The Diamond beamlines and Experimental Hall Floor are covered by Local Rules for the Protection of Persons from Ionising Radiations (or Local Rules). These are in place for your safety and well-being and you should be familiar with these rules before coming to Diamond.

If bringing radioactive samples, users should be aware of the procedures for dealing with radioactive samples at Diamond.  There is a radionuclear laboratory for handling low level samples on site covered by a separate Local Rules document. If you require more information, please contact Fred Mosselmans.

Any electrical equipment brought to Diamond must first have been Portable Appliance Tested (PAT) at your home establishment and display a valid PAT testing sticker.

Safety glasses

Users may bring their own safety glasses to Diamond. The glasses should be compliant with BS EN 166F or better and be in a good state of repair. The glasses need to be inspected by local contacts.

Safety Codes

Diamond has a number of User Safety Codes, which are brief documents to provide guidance for working with specific hazards. All investigators coming to Diamond should be familiar with the codes relevant to their experiments.

• Code 1 - Nanotechnology
• Code 2 - Liquid Nitrogen
• Code 3 - Pressure Systems
• Code 4 - Sample Transport
• Code 5 - Lasers and UV
• Code 6 - Extremes of Temperature
• Code 7 - High Voltage Equipment
• Code 8 - Magnetic Fields
• Code 9 - Lone Working
• Code 10 - Flow Cells
• Code 11 - Fatigue 

All users are reminded to wear appropriate clothing and footwear on the Experimental Hall Floor and that smoking is not permitted in, or within 5m of, any building on site. 

Lab Standard Risk Assessments 

If the use of laboratory facilities is required, the following lab standard risk assessments (LSRA) are in place. The LSRAs are documents that assess routine work to be completed in the laboratory and these can be referred to and used, if lab access is required for these purposes. All investigators coming to Diamond should be familiar with the lab standards relevant to their experiments.

• LSRA 1 - Solvents
• LSRA 2 - Strong Acids and Bases
• LSRA 3 - Carcinogens, Mutagens and Sensitisers
• LSRA 4 - Nano Technology
• LSRA 5 - Pellet Preparation
• LSRA 6 - Flow Cells
• LSRA 7 - XChem Lab
• LSRA 8 - eBIC Preparation Labs
• LSRA 9 - Plunge freezing in the eBIC Lab
• LSRA 10 - Toxic gases
• LSRA 11 - Strong Oxidisers
• LSRA 12 - Cryogens
• LSRA 13 - Flammable gases

Using Public Transport

Diamond expects users to use the most economical means to travel.

Please see the Diamond policies on Eligibility and Travel to indicate who Diamond may reimburse for travel costs and the means of travel that are covered.

If the travel expenses were incurred by your establishment or a third party, it is their responsibility to raise an invoice attaching all associated receipts and send it to [email protected]. The invoice must reference the session number and the names of the users. Failure to do this will result in rejection of the invoice.

Diamond is about an hours drive from Heathrow Airport and two hours or so from Gatwick Airport. When booking air travel, users are requested to prioritise public transport to travel to and from the airport. There are a number of bus and rail providers that enable users to find the most economical route here:

Heathrow 
A frequent coach service, Reading-Heathrow RailAir, takes passengers to Reading Station to connect with trains to Didcot Parkway Station, which is a 15 minute bus ride from Diamond. The service picks up from all four terminals and the journey time to Reading is approximately 40 minutes, depending on traffic.

Gatwick
A direct train service operates between Gatwick Airport and Reading Station to connect with services to Didcot Parkway Station, which is a 15 minute bus ride from Diamond. The entire journey takes just over 2 hours. Please check National Rail  for current operating times. 

The nearest train station to Diamond is Didcot Parkway. 

There are a number rail providers that enable users to find the most economical route here:

Trainline 

National Rail 

All buses are dewar friendly and we expect this form of transport to be used first.

There are several bus services that come to the Harwell Campus: Current services, timetables and maps are abvailable on the Oxford Bus website at https://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/services/harwell

Taxis should only be used where public transport is not available.  Reimbursement of claims for use of taxis not approved and booked by the User Office will be rejected.

As buses are dewar friendly, we expect this form of transport to be used first.  Dewars can be shipped in advance of your experiment - please click here for details. 

If you are eligible, Diamond User Office may approve a pre-booked taxi. This will be confirmed in your sesson booking email.  

Car Hire: 

All hire cars must have prior approval from the User Office.

Justification must be provided before you make your booking, in order to satisfy that this is the most cost effective means to travel.

Fuel may be reimbursed upon production of a receipt. Fuel claims without a receipt will be rejected. 

Own car:

Where it is cost effective for you to use your car to travel to your session, a mileage allowance may be claimed, subject to eligibility. When claiming for mileage, please ensure evidence is provided to reflect cost effectiveness. Please be aware that where there is more than one person driving from the same establishment, it is expected that they will car share.

Diamond will pay mileage from your establishment, or your home address, whichever is nearer, subject to eligibility. Fuel will not be reimbursed. 

The User Office endeavours to obtain rooms at Ridgeway House first, before allocating off site. 

Please see the Financial Support & Expenses Procedure to determine where Diamond may fund accommodation.

Possible cancellations / changes:

If you no longer require your room, please inform the User Office and your hotel as soon as practicably possible, and no later than 12 noon the day before you are due to arrive. You / your institute may be charged if you fail to do so.

As the time of the experiment approaches, we will do our best to ensure full occupancy at Ridgeway House by bringing users back to site should rooms become available and no further costs be incurred. 

Booking Accommodation 

Ridgeway House on the Harwell campus

Alternative Accommodation 

Diamond always includes breakfast when we book your accommodation.

Users on sessions that have been awarded funded support will find that their access card has been loaded with £18 per day. 

If you arrive the night before your experiment you can spend up to £9 on an evening meal on campus. This should be claimed after your experimental session ends. The cost of food taken on the inbound / outbound journey, or food taken off-site (eg. local pub / takeaway), will not be reimbursed by Diamond. 

All users must use the catering provision on campus:

• R22 Restaurant: The main dining room on the STFC site
• R1 Cafe: This is a cafe in the R1 building near the library
• Costa Coffee Cafe: This is a cafe serving tea, Costa coffee and refreshments located in the Satellite Applications Catapult, Electron building, Fermi Avenue
• Vending machines: These are located in the Diamond kitchens in Zone 3, Zone 7 and Zone 11

If you have special dietary needs, please approach the restaurant directly to make a request. You can do this by emailing [email protected].

Subsistence off Site 

If you are not staying at Ridgeway House and have been allocated a hotel off site, you can spend up to £15 for a meal off-site, which will be reimbursed providing there are supporting receipts. No alcohol will be reimbursed.

Often it is simpler, safer and more cost effective to ship samples to Diamond, rather than carry them with you. All samples must be transported following the Carriage of Dangerous Goods Act 2004. 

Samples being shipped should be marked for the attention of:  The Experimental Hall Coordinators, Diamond Light Source, Harwell Research and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0DE.

In addition they should be labelled with the:

• Sender's name, institute and contact details
• Session number the samples are to be used for
• Instrument at which the samples will be used
• Specific storage requirements (i.e. temperature)

Diamond Stores are open to accept deliveries between 08:00 and 17:00 Monday - Thursday and 08:00 and 12:00 Friday.

UK and EU users of ISPyB should use the shipping tool within ISPyB to arrange the shipment of samples to Diamond, which will be charged directly to the Diamond DHL account.

All other users should note that shipping samples may be reimbursed at the discretion of Diamond. This must be authorised in advance by the Diamond User Office or no reimbursement will be made. Please see here for further details.

If it is agreed that Diamond will meet these costs, the home institute will incur the cost of shipping and invoice Diamond. Please send the invoice to Accounts Payable: [email protected] 

Please note that Diamond is not able to enter into material transfer agreements as a recipient for any materials or samples which a user will be bringing to Diamond. Users are responsible for ensuring they have the correct licences, approvals, and materials transfers in place that may be required prior to conducting research at Diamond and for providing copies of same to Diamond.