Date: August 26, 2010
4:24:58 PM EDT
Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L]
Safety Training
In my 20+
years with Cal/OSHA, I found that some of the worst places for safety
and health enforcement was in the education sector. High schools were clueless
to the requirements and needs for the chemistry stockrooms. Universities were not much
better. Usually the
EHS departments were relatively powerless to enforce various needs and
rulings. They would
have to go through the department heads to get a grudging
OK.
Way back,
I remember a case where asbestos was involved in a university where we
were getting stonewalled, so my supervisor finally threatened one of the
chancellors with a court date.
That got their attention and the case was taken care
of.
That
attitude is what leads to cases like the recent email about the student
who got three fingers blown off and various other injuries while
preparing a high energy explosive in the lab without any safety devices
present - not even a blast shield! The university finally got
the message and instituted a strong program that should have been in
place long before.
But, the independence of the department heads who are the
administrators of their grants often seem to be at odds with the EHS at
their facility(ies).
My rant
for the day,
Ken Smith
Former chemist and CIH
===
Date: August 26, 2010
7:57:18 PM EDT
Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L] 3 Re:
[DCHAS-L] Safety Training
A little hope from the world of K-12
academia:
Recognizing that our teachers frequently have to
"triage" their meetings, my district has allowed me the leverage to
bring safety training to the teachers to match their needs. There have been many years
(and this will probably be one) where teachers who missed the main
Right-to-know training received a one-on-one make-up. It's very simple--they
must have the safety training before they begin teaching lab
activities--period.
My job (one of them) is to make that happen by any means
necessary. I've given
the training before school, during planning periods, even during
lunch.
The best part is that over the years, if a teacher
misses the first safety training, they are hounding me for the
make-up! They have
come to depend on annual training, and I am happy to oblige. Our assistant
superintendant requires me to submit documentation of this for all
science teachers each year.
As a result, our district (27 schools) take laboratory safety
very seriously.
In the same vein, teachers require students to submit
a signed safety contract (signed by parents) before lab work
begins. All
legalities aside, the bottom line is that these procedures are part of a
district safety plan designed to keep the children safe. There's no argument
against safety training with this bottom line--ever.
Edward J.
McGrath
Science
Supervisor
Red Clay Consolidated School
District
===
Date: August 26, 2010 5:17:47 PM
EDT
Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L]
Safety Training
I have
now been in academia for 10 years but was originally in industry for 11
years and have to admit I too feel that we are leaps and bounds
behind. At least in
our case there seems to be a lacking attitude by most faculty as to
committing their time to "Safety Training" which I hold for all
employees every summer.
Most of the time I can easily get the cooperation of our student
workers but not my colleagues.
There is no system of enforcement in place from the Chair or the
Dean so I continue to hold the training, document who completes it and
respond to safety issues when needed. I too feel strongly that
enforcement needs to be supported by upper administration and if it is
absent then employees will continue to treat "Safety" with a lack luster
attitude.
Kathleen
Schmidt-Nebril, NRCC-CHO
Chemistry
Division Department of Natural Science
Dominican University
River Forest, IL 60305
708-524-6533
