New Students – After Arriving at UBC

COMPLETE THE SAFETY COURSE AND BULLYING/HARASSMENT TRAINING, AND REQUEST OFFICE AND LAB ACCESS/KEYS

Both the Safety Course and the Bullying Harassment Training are Mandatory to all incoming/current graduate students.

New employees and students of the Mechanical Engineering Department must receive both trainings prior to being given access to work in labs or workshops. This is a legal requirement.

The basic training includes the UBC Introduction to Lab Safety course plus a local laboratory orientation to each lab in which you will be working. Mech lab orientations will be conducted by your supervisor or their designated lab manager.

You should complete these prior to applying for lab keys and fob so that you can attach them to the request. Note anyone seeking unsupervised lab access, other than to purely computer labs, and anyone who will be working in, or assigned a desk in a research or teaching lab, is required to complete the safety training before being granted access.

Depending on your position and type of work, you may also be required to take a more in-depth course in addition. You should discuss this with your supervisor and register for appropriate courses – being sure to submit all course completion confirmations to the reception in the main office (CEME 2054).

Laboratory and workshop keys and alarm codes will be authorized only after Safety training is completed and we have the record of completion.

After completion of the Introduction to Lab Safety and your local Laboratory Orientation, submit the following documents to the reception.

  • Your completed and signed access (key/alarm request) form (available at the reception or on the information portal);
  • Completed and signed Orientation to your Mech laboratory;
  • Confirmation of completion of the Intro to Lab Safety course from Risk Management.

MAIL

Any postal mail deliver the office will be put in the alphabetical boxes located outside the main office. Messages for you may also left there so please check your box at least once a week. Cheques and registered mail will be held at the reception and a student name will be posted on the chalk board across from the mail box. Please DO NOT have personal mail sent to the department.

PURCHASE EXTRA INSURANCE

The department has a policy that all students must have accident insurance. In fact, we do not allow anyone to use the workshop without insurance. However, even if you never use the workshop, you must have insurance to cover you in case of an accident while working in a research lab or some similar activity.

Student Accident Insurance is an additional insurance that provides additional medical coverage for UBC students and post-doctoral fellows performing course work related activities in environments where the risk of injury is greater than in a classroom, e.g., laboratories, clinical practice, field work. It provides a $50,000 maximum benefit for death or dismemberment and a $5,000 excess medical coverage, e.g., ambulance, prescription drugs.

Students must have the BC Medical Plan or its equivalent from another province in place (basic medical care) in order to be eligible for the Student Accident Insurance.

The cost to enroll in the Student Accident Insurance program is $7 per student per year, and can be paid at the reception in the main office.

TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS (TA)

Requires assisting in undergraduate laboratories, tutorials, and marking. These may be held in conjunction with other assistantships or scholarships. Assignments are based on 4 hours of work per week and remuneration is approximately $1,500 per term. Click here to apply!

Typically TA applications for an academic year are open in April of the previous year, so as an incoming student you may not be able to get one in time if you have not confirmed your offer or gotten an SIN by the TA application deadline. MEGA is working with the department to increase options for first year graduate students. Additionally, sometimes TA positions open up at the last minute, so you can always check with the Mech Office once you have your SIN to see if there is any availability.

SIGN UP FOR A WORKSHOP SAFETY ORIENTATION

Persons needing machine shop access are required to have completed the department’s shop orientation. Access to the machine shop is granted for 3 years after attending the orientation and completing the exam.

For more detailed information on the machine shop, please consult the Mech Workshops- Mech Workshops: Safety and Support Vista site or contact Markus Fengler (Ph: 1-604-827-5655 Office: KAISER 1190C).