Date: August 28, 2010 8:59:24 PM EDT
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Safety
Training
Robin,
I'm not trying to paint EHS departments as not caring
or clueless or caving.
I'm not "outside" academia - I'm a former insider, a
professor who actually had such good relations with his EHS department
that I went into business with one of the them: http://www.ilpi.com/aboutus.html
Back in the
day, I was one of a handful or faculty (campus-wide) that ever showed
any proactive (rather than reactive) initiative with respect to safety
and I know the battles that have to be fought. I have the greatest
respect for EHS/OHS - it's what my company is about. And I'm a big cheerleader
for what's being done at various departments - note the Further Reading
Links in our MSDS HyperGlossary; many point to academic EHS Department
writeups, Princeton included.
I've seen too many horrid academic lab accidents, and grow
frustrated every time I hear of another obviously preventable injury or
death.
These occur because safety culture is generally absent
from universities as well as their curriculum. The first step in that
direction, a "no course, no work, (and let's add no paycheck)" rule
could, in fact, be implemented quite easily - the same SAP systems that
cover I-9, W-4 and other employee paperwork are the perfect way to do
it. It is simple, but
the bureaucracy and fiefdoms will, of course, resist that change. But that change needs to
come - whether it is raised as an agenda item at whatever safety
committees exist and works its way up through there or perhaps the
University Senate. Or
maybe just two motivated people - someone in EHS and the University's
risk manager - bam, it's an insurance/liability issue, not a lab issue,
so the academic departments have no ammo to push back against it. And there is always
a state legislature - let's see what happens in CA after the UCLA
incident.
As far as safety culture in the curriculum - the next
shove in that direction will have to come from the ACS. Make it part of the
accreditation process.
Safety analysis, risk management, etc. are simply not being
taught as essential skills in chemistry. In the meantime, safety
culture can at least be introduced in the EHS training
courses.
Robin, I have no doubt you guys are going all you can
and more, and I never stated otherwise. Our goals are the same -
to ensure that everyone gets training and reduces accidents. But recent events (TX,
UCLA) illustrate that a safety revolution in the academic laboratory is
long overdue. While
(the collective) we have improved over the years, it's time to switch
from plugging leaks and patching holes to building a new safety
infrastructure - we have a lot of good building materials (training
courses etc.) but need a much better foundation (safety paradigms,
enforceable policies, safety culture) that will make those training
materials even more effective.
Rob
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