The Sample Safety Team is led by James Taylor, who reviews and approves experimental safety cases, manages the general preparation laboratories and supports laboratory operations across the facility. James also has responsibilities in radiation protection. “I particularly like getting involved in complicated and high-hazard experiments. Those are the ones where careful planning really makes a difference.” 

James Tellam reviews risk assessments submitted by researchers and analyses the behaviour of materials under experimental conditions, identifying potential hazards, helping risk assess more complex neutron experiments from experimental design all the way through to carrying out the experiment. These can include highly energetic materials and nuclear materials. 

June McCorquodale focuses on Xpress-access sample safety and early-stage proposal reviews, assessing materials submitted for rapid or short experiments and confirming that appropriate safety controls are in place before beamtime begins.

Not all experiments at ISIS are routine. Many involve unfamiliar materials, extreme conditions or hazards that require careful planning long before beamtime begins.
For the Sample Safety Team, each proposal presents a different set of questions. Materials may behave unpredictably when exposed to high temperatures, pressure or radiation, and the risks can vary significantly depending on how an experiment is designed. 

As James Tellam notes: “Every experiment is kind of unique. The riskier ones definitely are, there’s not really an easy way to just say yes.”
Some experiments require extensive preparation long before the work begins. A recent study investigating how peat burns involved analysing how the material behaves during combustion and designing systems that would allow the experiment to be carried out safely. “We had to get a lot of data from users beforehand,  how rapidly does it burn, how hot does it get, how much smoke is generated?” 

Other proposals involve materials that have little or no existing safety data available.
June encounters this regularly when reviewing experimental samples.
“If you have something like acetone you can find a safety data sheet easily. But if you have a research material, those sheets don’t exist.”
Preparing these kinds of experiments can involve months of discussion and planning before beamtime begins. 

Once the risks of an experiment have been identified, the next step is designing the controls that allow the research to proceed safely. This stage often involves detailed discussions with researchers and coordination with specialist teams across the facility.
Different experiments require different solutions. Some involve toxic gases that must remain fully contained. Others require remote ignition systems, heat-resistant chambers or specialised monitoring equipment. Each setup must be designed so that materials remain controlled throughout the experiment. 

“We look at what people are bringing, ask questions about how they want to do it, and make sure it can be done safely”, as James Taylor explains. 

Developing these safety arrangements often requires collaboration with multiple technical groups across the facility, including specialists in gas systems, pressure equipment, cryogenics and electronics. “The key to it is having a good knowledge of what different systems we have and really good interaction with the other specialist teams.”  James Taylor  

The team also considers how hazards can be reduced or controlled before an experiment begins. As June explains: “You have to think, this is how the experiment should run , what could go wrong, and how do we stop that happening?”
Through this process, the practical details of how an experiment will run are worked through in advance, ensuring that the right systems and procedures are in place before beamtime begins.

In many research environments, safety teams are often perceived as a barrier to experimentation, associated primarily with restrictions and compliance procedures. At ISIS, the team works to challenge this perception by fostering a collaborative approach that supports both scientific progress and safety. Rather than rejecting proposals outright, the team engages with researchers to understand the aims of an experiment and explore how it can be carried out safely within the facility. 

As Sarah Youngs, notes, “We want to make it that it’s always a conversation,  we want to have that open communication.”
This collaborative mindset underpins the team’s interactions with researchers, instrument scientists, and technical specialists across the facility.  

James Taylor, highlights this approach, stating, “Our aim is always to understand what people want to do and try to move that forward, we very rarely say no.”
Despite common assumptions about safety teams, the work of the Sample Safety Team centres on enabling research rather than preventing it. As he observes, “Safety is often considered ‘they’re going to say no’ or that we’ll just put paperwork in the way but that really isn’t true.”
Ultimately, the team’s role is to support scientific discovery while maintaining the highest standards of safety. 

 As James Tellam explains, “We’re here to help them run the experiment , the only way to do it is to do it safely.”
Through this approach, the Sample Safety Team continues to foster a culture in which safety and science work collaboratively, ensuring that complex and innovative experiments can be carried out responsibly at ISIS. 

The work of the Sample Safety Team plays an important role in enabling research at ISIS, supporting a wide range of experiments while maintaining strong safety and compliance standards. Collaboration within the team allows different areas of expertise to contribute to the assessment and management of complex samples and experimental conditions. 

As Ludmila, ISIS Bio lab manager, reflects, “It’s not only me, it’s quite interesting to see other people’s perspectives and their views. We can start assessing one query and realise that it requires different kind of expertise and actually come up with solutions because we’re all assessing it together.”
This collaborative dynamic is reflected across the team.  

Sarah Youngs, describes the strength of the team’s working environment, noting that “we’ve got a very good close-knit team, everyone’s got everyone else’s back.”
 

For James Taylor, the impact of this approach lies in the connections across the facility: “The thing that makes working here good is the integration, working with lots of different teams across different disciplines.” 

Similarly, James Tellam reflects on the outcome of this work, noting that “seeing the users get good data and having a successful experiment run is rewarding.”
Together, these perspectives highlight how collaboration and shared expertise within the Sample Safety Team contribute to enabling complex and diverse scientific research at ISIS.

The work of the Sample Safety Team reflects a shared commitment to enabling scientific research while maintaining strong safety and compliance standards. Through collaboration, expertise, and careful assessment, the team supports researchers in conducting complex experiments safely within the ISIS facility. 

As Ludmila, emphasises, “We are here to enable it, not stop it.”
This approach is echoed by Sarah Youngs, who notes, “We want to make sure everyone can actually do the science they want to do quickly and efficiently, without barriers holding them up.” She also highlights the team’s broader aim: “We want to enable the science that people want to do at ISIS.”

Together, these perspectives capture the role of the Sample Safety Team in supporting innovative research while ensuring it is carried out safely and responsibly.