Safety Training

New ME Employees

All new employees in the Mechanical Engineering Department are required to take online Safety Training conducted by University Health and Safety (UHS) and in-person laboratory specific training.

1. Online Training Modules

The annual in person department-wide training is also mandatory but does not replace the online training.

Visit UHS Training and take these three training modules:

• Introduction to Research Safety 
• Chemical Safety
• Chemical Waste Management

If the lab is purely computational then the first training (Introduction to Research Safety) is sufficient.

If the lab contains any risk of exposure to radiation, lasers, blood, and/or heavy machinery there are additional trainings which must be completed.

Bloodborne Pathogens specifically must be renewed ANNUALLY. Anyone working with or having access to "potentially infectious material" must take the Bloodborne Pathogens Introduction course annually to maintain access.

2. In-Person Lab Specific Training

All training must be documented. 

Visit the University's Department of Environmental Health & Safety (DEHS) site for laboratory specific training and resources by area. Be sure to log your Training Record.

The annual lab specific training is also mandatory and is conducted by the lab PI and tracked internally but does not replace the required online training listed above.

Common ME lab specific training resources:

• Biosafety
• Lasers
  • Fact Sheet
  • Online Module
• Fluid Power Safety
  • Hydraulics Fact Sheet
  • Convergence Training
  • Fluid Power Safety Institute (FPSI) Safety Alerts
• Machine Shop Safety Fact Sheet
• Compressed Gases
  • Standard Operating Procedures Template
  • Video: "The Basic of Cylinder Handling" by Matheson
• Nanomaterials
  • Guidance Document
  • Article: "Nanoparticles can permeate gloves after 2 hours"
• Noise
• Ergonomics

3. Verify Training

You can verify completed training in one of two ways:

• Students: Head to training.umn.edu, then go to My Trainings, then Past.
• Faculty/staff: Use the Training Report Center.

Current ME Employees

Annual ME Safety Training

• New Researchers (Faculty, Staff, PhD students, MS Plan A students): Must complete in-class safety training the last week of August. Links to video recordings of these training sessions are available under past trainings.
• Existing Experimental Researchers: Must participate in one of the safety training seminars held in October and November. The seminars are organized by safety hazard areas.
• Sign up here to complete the online 2022-2023 Annual ME Safety Training course!

Past Training

Safety Training August 29, 2019

• New Researcher Safety Training Slides (no video available)

Safety Training August 30, 2018

• Chemical Safety
• Machine Safety
• Computation/Office Safety