Safety Information for visitors to ISIS
We are looking forward to welcoming you to the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. ISIS is a working laboratory, and we have carried out a risk assessment for visits around ISIS; the key findings of that risk assessment are summarised below. A copy of the full risk assessment can be obtained from the person organising the visit.
Please stay with your guides at all times and follow any instructions given.
- Tours of the ISIS synchrotron, linear accelerator, experimental areas and support laboratories require visitors to pass through designated Controlled Radiation Areas. The tour routes are planned so that, as far as possible, they avoid areas where radiation levels are significantly higher than local background levels. Further information can be supplied.
- Children and young people under the age of 18 are permitted to visit ISIS. Children must be aged 11 years and older. The risk assessment for ISIS tours accounts for the additional hazards posed to children and young people on tours of the ISIS experimental areas. Further information can be supplied.
- In general, pregnant women are permitted to visit ISIS. The radiation dose rates encountered during a standard tour of the ISIS experimental areas are close to background levels, and therefore there is no reason to exclude pregnant visitors on the grounds of potential radiation exposure. However, pregnant women are advised not to attend Synchrotron Tours, as the dose rates in those areas may be slightly higher.
- There are also a number of magnetic fields present around ISIS. Most magnetic fields are contained within the equipment itself but where that magnetic field strays into accessible areas, the extent of the stray field is marked on the floor or other surface. People fitted with pacemakers are permitted to visit ISIS but we ask that you inform the visit organiser if you have a pacemaker so that we can avoid these areas.
- The tour routes include some gridded walkways at height. There are waist-level barriers on all high-[1]level walkways, but we ask that you inform the visit organiser in advance if you or anyone in your group suffers from vertigo so that an alternate route can be planned.
- The tour of ISIS includes a lot of walking, including stairs so your choice of footwear should be appropriate.
- Please let the visit organiser know in advance if you are a wheelchair user or have any access requirements and we will tailor the visit to meet your needs.
- In order for you to enter our Controlled Radiation Areas, we need to collect some basic information about you/your group for safety purposes. This data will be held by the ISIS dosimetry office and STFC’s secure servers for 2 years, after which they will be deleted. For more information see our privacy statement at www.ukri.org/privacy-notice.
