Letters from Lausanne

Handling of toxic gases at the EPFL is exemplary. And by exemplary I mean that it is nigh impossible to have a toxic gas spill without having alarms and automatic shutdowns going off well before that, to the amusement of all the other people doing experiments in the lab who generally rejoice in having their gas flow cut.
This is of course the point in having safety - preventing gas spills, that is, not pissing off your colleagues. But that doesn`t mean that I can`t bitch and moan about the time needed to actually get the system to release the gases to my plasma reactor - about 10 minutes, though I probably will get a bit faster once I know the check-list by heart.
For your edification, gentle reader, a picture of some valves controlling the case flow - not all of them by far, I count about 10 manual and 3 automatic valves between the goodness that is Silane or Hydrogen and the reactor.