NMR Lab Safety Policy
Safety Policy Environment and Safety in Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility, University of Maryland, College Park: Responsibilities, Risks and Liabilities:
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Staff members, Teaching Assistants, and Users will expose themselves to strong magnetic fields (maximum of 14 Tesla) from the NMR superconducting magnets, while they are working around the spectrometers. To the best knowledge of the NMR community, no known health hazard has been reported when one is exposed to such field, in the past twenty years. However, there is no guarantee that future findings may show otherwise.
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Any person with metal implants, such as heart-pacers, should not work or enter the NMR labs. The strong field and the radio frequencies of NMR spectrometers are known to interfere with heart-pacers.
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Keep all loose metal objects at least ten-foot from the magnets. The strong magnetic field attracts any loose paramagnetic metal objects nearby. The collision force is so strong that it can induce a structural collapse of the magnet, which in turn causes spontaneous boil-off of the super-cold liquids in the magnet. A person around the collision (magnet) can be injured.
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Use proper procedure and obey safety policy when dealing with liquid nitrogen and liquid helium. Then superconducting magnet contains liquid nitrogen and liquid helium. Contact with these cold liquids will cause severe burns to the body. Safety policy must be complied with during transportation and refilling of the magnet with these liquids. During the refilling of liquid helium, the operator must be very careful and always maintain proper balance when stepping up to the platform (no more than 3 feet in height). Falling from the platform could lead to body injuries.
Disclaimer
The prospective users should read ‘responsibility, risks and liabilities’ and fully understand the potential danger, implication and risks described. The staff members in the NMR facilities, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry or the University of Maryland is not responsible or liable for any possible misshape caused by any user negligence. By reading this, the users will behave responsibly and follow all the proper procedures as described in this form and the published NMR facility policy of the department.