At MAX IV, Floor Coordinators play a critical role in ensuring safe, efficient, and continuous operations on the experimental floor, especially during evenings, nights, and weekends. Our role is primarily focused on user support, where we provide guidance and assistance to researchers and visiting scientists to help them carry out their experiments successfully.
Background
Floor Coordinators come from technical and scientific backgrounds, often with experience in physics, engineering, and large-scale scientific infrastructure.
They are communicators, problem solvers, and reliable presences on the floor who can handle everything from system troubleshooting to urgent safety response.
Services
Floor Coordinators are the first line of support for beamline operations and user needs during and outside of regular hours. Present on-site 24/7, they respond quickly and effectively to both routine and unexpected technical or operational situations.
They work side-by-side with user groups, beamline staff, and facility operations to make sure that the beamlines keep running and that user experiments are supported reliably.
- Regularly and proactively patrol the experimental hall, beamlines, and support labs during shifts.
- Monitor and respond promptly to various types of information, warnings, and alarms at beamlines, support labs, and the general facility.
- Record ongoing issues, requests, and support actions in the operations logbook.
- Help resolve downtime issues and keep communication open between users, beamline staff, and system owners.
- Perform routine or requested tasks by the beamlines during the off-hours.
- Assist beamline staff and users in locating needed hardware or equipment.
For any technical support needs related to computers, software, network access, or experimental hardware, Floor Coordinators serve as the first point of contact outside regular office hours. They assist in:
- Troubleshooting beamline control systems, data acquisition systems, PLC, and experiment-related hardware.
- Resolving network or access issues for visiting users.
Note: Any calls to KITOS (ICT Support) MUST go through the Floor Coordinator when outside normal working hours.
- Respond immediately to safety alarms on the experimental floor.
- Support radiation walkthroughs.
- Perform gatekeeping of Yellow and RED experiments prior to the start of the experiment.
- Handle after-hours support such as gas cylinder exchange and LNâ dewar replenishment.
- Respond to facility-wide and major incidents within the experimental hall and accelerator areas such as fire, power and network shutdown, chemical and gas exposures, etc.
- Resolve issues with site access badges outside normal working hours.
Floor Coordinators provide extended support for bio and chemical laboratories, particularly during nights and weekends. They help ensure that lab-based experiments and procedures are not interrupted due to access or support limitations by assisting with:
- Locating lab equipment and consumables upon request from the users.
- Providing user training for lab spaces during off-hours.
- Troubleshooting issues in lab equipment, gloveboxes, and fume hoods.
- Making sure that lab areas are in order, clean, and safe for all users during off-hours.
Gas supply and safety is another area where Floor Coordinators offer essential support, especially during off-hours. They provide help with:
- Access to and handling of reserved gas bottles for experiments.
- Connection of pressure regulators (inert gases only).
- Replacing gas bottles in gloveboxes as needed.
- Monitoring and responding to oxygen level and gas-related alarms.
Please contact them if support is needed with gas logistics, safety issues, or scheduled deliveries during beamtime.