EMSL is dedicated to providing a healthy and safe work environment for all employees, guests, users, and contractors. Everyone is required to complete training that covers responsibilities associated with your use of PNNL or EMSL resources and is commensurate with the work that is to be performed, potential hazards that may be encountered, and the locations to be accessed. The number of courses assigned is dependent on your scope of work, the resources being used (including PNNL's computer network or visitor wireless network), and the hazards associated with each visit. Minimum training requirements have been identified for work assignments, and most training can be taken on-line. However, some first-time training requires that you attend classroom training upon your arrival to the site. Most courses require successful completion of a graded exam.
Training is divided into two categories: formal training and IOPS (or lab-specific) training. Within each category you may be assigned multiple courses if you have a large work scope. These can be rather time-consuming, so if you are visiting EMSL, please allow plenty of time to complete the training before you start your travel. Otherwise, you may experience delays of up to one business day.
Formal training is indicated by a course number. Because you’re taking the training from offsite, there are a few items you should know:
- You won’t be able to open all of the embedded hyperlinks that provide additional detailed information. This additional information is not required to pass the course. However, if you’d like to see the content, please let us know, and we’ll email a copy of the contents to you.
- The buttons to launch IOPS training will not function from the Formal Training site. Please follow the instructions on the Portal's Training page to access the IOPS courses.
- The checklists for the Eyewash and/or Laser courses cannot be completed online and require a brief overview with a staff member. We’ll help you complete these after you arrive.
Note: Make sure to complete the steps on the last page of each course in order to get full credit for the formal training. Record of course completion in our training systems may take up to one business day.
IOPS training summarizes all of your hazard-specific training in a training matrix or table. This will include some of the formal training courses that were assigned as well as the hazard awareness summaries that are specific to the labs you’ll need to access. Once you’ve completed an IOPS reading, a “C” (for complete) will appear on your training matrix. Just work your way through the matrix until every box has a “C” recorded. Don't forget that formal training courses may take up to one business day to be marked as complete on the IOPS matix.
What to expect
Typically, researchers coming onsite to use EMSL resources should expect to take 5-7 courses before they are approved to work in the labs. As stated above, additional training may be required based on the project work scope and planned lab activities.
How to get started
To access your training, log into the EMSL User Portal (https://eus.emsl.pnl.gov/Portal) and follow the link on your homepage. If you are working with EMSL resources onsite, you will see the two categories of training described above.
The Portal provides the log-in information for each category of training required. You will be prompted to change the temporary password if this is the first time you've accessed the site. You will then be directed to your Training Record where you will see the list of courses that have been assigned to you. If you have logged in previously and forgotten your password, please contact your User Coordinator.
What to do if you're having trouble with the formal training site (eLearner)
PNNL's training staff have notified us that some courses are experiencing difficulties when accessed via Mozilla Firefox (in Windows), Google Chrome, and Safari browsers. In addition, the courses are currently designed/tested for Windows users so Mac users may experience additional problems. To avoid some common issues, please note the following:
- The training site works best in Internet Explorer for Windows users and Firefox for Mac users.
- When accessing the training outside of the PNNL firewall, links to internal web pages will not work
- Be sure to disable your pop-up blocker prior to launching a course as the courses open in a new window
- Make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Flash installed on your system
- If you are using Internet Explorer 9 or higher, be sure to enable compatibility mode (see below)
To enable compatibility mode, click on the broken page icon to the right of your browser address bar:
For technical assistance during EMSL Core hours (8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.), please contact the User Support Office (509) 371-6003. Otherwise, please contact the Help Desk (509) 375-6789 or (800)-375-6790.