Expectations

There are some key expectations that must be upheld by individuals and groups to maintain their laboratory privileges:

Safety

Safety is paramount in the Science Maker Lab. No work begins unless all safety considerations have been first taken care of.

• All students wishing to work in the Science Maker Lab must complete select the required Safety, Health, Environment and Risk Management (SHERM) online training courses.
• Students must read, understand and abide by all lab-specific standard operating procedures.
• Students must use recommended safety equipment.
• No student can work in the lab without staff supervision prior to reaching the specified level of training and competence that triggers this freedom.
  • Note that the level of training and competence needed to allow for independent use of the Science Maker Lab will be dependent on what equipment is being used and the relative risk to the safety of the user, the equipment and the building.
    • High risk/high consequence equipment such as the drill press will require more training and more demonstration of skill/safety to earn independence than low risk/low consequence equipment such as working on the CAD.
  • All lab and equipment use permissions are granted or denied at the sole discretion of the coordinator, Science Entrepreneurship.
    • Judgement of adequate “demonstration of competence” is also at the sole discretion of the coordinator, Science Entrepreneurship.
• Groups bringing any chemicals into the Science Maker Lab are responsible to ensure that they are stored safely, that WHMIS and workplace labelling protocols are met and that unused or obsoleted chemicals are disposed of properly.
  • The Science Maker Lab is not equipped for the storage of dangerous chemicals, nor does it have space to be used as a long-term storage facility.

Entrepreneurship

• The Science Maker Lab exists to support prototyping and product development for start-up phase businesses. As such, to embark on a long term product development/prototyping project, individuals or groups must present a strong business case that uses lean startup methodology – a proven strategy for getting businesses off the ground quickly and with limited resources. Not sure what lean startup means? We can help! Just contact us.

Respect/Sharing

• All students or groups wishing to work in the Science Maker Lab must abide by both the lab-specific general rules and the Laurier Student Code of Conduct.
• All students wishing to work in the Science Maker Lab must abide by the following lab etiquette rules:
  • All lab usage must be booked in advance.
    • No drop-ins – interrupting someone else’s booked session is both thoughtless and unprofessional.
  • Lab must be left clean and ready to use prior to end of scheduled session.
  • No-shows will result in decreased booking time limits for the offending group(s).
  • Respect that Science Maker Lab time is a limited resource and that your lab time can mean that someone else had to be deferred.
    • Wastage of lab time (such as showing up late or taking phone calls etc. while the lab assistant training you sits and waits) will result in lower booking priority for your future sessions.
• The Science Maker Lab is not a storage area.
  • Do not leave your unfinished projects cluttering up the lab and impeding its use by others between your lab visits.
  • Do not abandon equipment, supplies or unfinished projects if you decide not to continue with a project. Removal of abandoned projects from the lab is the responsibility of the student.

Document and Project Management

• All Science Maker Lab users working on projects will be expected to develop a living timeline for their project that is realistic in consideration of the time required and the time available.
• Progress will be reviewed at regular intervals in a meeting with the lab coordinator to track progress and ensure that non-permanent lab resources are in place at the time that they will be needed.
• Individuals or groups will need to prove commitment to their project to maintain their priority for booking and use of resources.
• All Science Maker Lab participants and groups are required to document the project in detail through the use of lab books.
• Industry standard document control procedures must be upheld when it comes to the use and revision of lab policies and standard operating procedures.