“Safety is elemental” is the latest safety tagline for the ALS, and it also pretty much sums up the mission of laser safety officers Greta Toncheva and Robert Fairchild. Toncheva and Fairchild share the responsibility of ensuring laser safety lab-wide, with Toncheva responsible for overseeing laser safety operations at the ALS. Fairchild has been at the Lab for the past 16 years. Toncheva started last year after spending the past 10 years at Duke University in radiation hazard protection. The excellent safety record that the ALS holds speaks volumes to their efforts.
In addition to lasers, Toncheva supports ionizing radiation, with a heavy focus on supporting accelerators. Fairchild supports lasers and all nonionizing radiation, which means his work is spread throughout the Lab campus and other facilities, including JCAP and JGI. Their work at the Lab and the ALS involves a unique combination of highly technical knowledge, excellent communications skills, and multi-tasking finesse.
“Being on top of the game is important,” says Toncheva. “There’s a huge volume and diversity of lasers to keep track of.”
In addition to a diversity of lasers, Toncheva and Fairchild deal with a huge array of personnel, including users new to the ALS setting up their experiments. Educating users about our safety culture and process can be challenging, but it’s one of the job duties that both Toncheva and Fairchild enjoy. They work closely with Doug Taube, ALS chemical safety specialist, to ensure that new experiments go through the correct safety channels and laser hazard evaluations are underway where necessary.
“We are required to constantly be learning while on the job, keeping up with advancing laser technology,” says Toncheva. “It’s challenging and I like it.”