Thanks, everyone, for your comments and input. Always an interesting mix of opinions and advice.
I’ve just had some correspondence from a general chemistry student who may have a broken ankle.. She’s on crutches and has a thick, soft wrap on her injured
leg. The wrap covers her skin in several layers of thick bandage. I’ve asked her to put a thick sock on her toes (that were peeping out of the wrap). I’ve also asked her to work with her TA and my dispensary staff on our newly minted students with disability
accommodation worksheet (thanks, Sheila Kennedy, for your input and help). Available here:
http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/safety/student_with_disability_guideline-final..pdf
Shortly after that, one of my graduate students came by to ask some questions about their CHP. She wears a head scarf and I asked her about how she confines
her scarf when she’s in the lab. She tucks it into the collar of her lab coat and she’s looking forward to a new lab coat (it’s at the tailor) that snaps at the collar. She’s hopeful it’ll be more comfortable to confine her scarf. I’m fairly certain that
if she were on fire, her labmates (male and female) would be on the spot to help put her out.
Pragmatism and collaborative problem-solving go a long way. A sense of humor and a genuine interest in those who have a different perspective is always helpful.
Best,
Debbie M. Decker, CCHO
Safety Manager
Department of Chemistry
University of California, Davis
122 Chemistry
1 Shields Ave.
Davis, CA 95616
(530)754-7964
(530)304-6728
dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu
Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction
that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions,
can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU]
On Behalf Of Sadeque, Jafreen
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 11:37 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.
Thank you for those 4 cents that provide a nice summary.
Monona and Debbie,
I actually wear headscarves and loose-fitting garments. I have worked in chemistry and biology labs at universities and companies, and also done printmaking but not welding. I have never encountered any problem with wearing my headscarf. Wearing a lab coat
over my clothing keeps everything together, and if the scarf is tucked into the coat, it is definitely not a contamination problem, fire hazard, etc. When I was an undergrad, my institution did not require lab coats, but even there I never encountered any
problem with my scarf although from a safety standpoint, I think lab coats should have been required for everyone. Lab coats actually have pretty wide sleeves, I think. Are you having problems with the lab member's sleeves falling out of the lab coat? How
about lab coats with cuffed sleeves? Is the lab member refusing to tuck the scarf into their coat? If so, I am happy to speak with them directly to help mediate a solution.
In terms of footwear, I have never encountered a situation where safe footwear contradicts anyone's religious beliefs, which is why I wanted to know more about the issue. From my understanding of Islam and Muslims, which is strongly implied that that is the
population you are talking about, sandals are not required footwear and was shocked by the nature of the comment.
In terms of "male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire," this is completely wrong, and the manner in which it was addressed really concerned me.
I cannot speak on behalf of the personal views of the women who work in your labs, but it is very upsetting that from what was written, it sounded like the women themselves
were not actually consulted but instead the hearsay was added as a way to show how crazy the group of people in question, Muslim women, were. I doubt that even if someone for whatever reason did not want to be saved in a fire, you would not still rescue them.
However, I don't know the specifics of your institutional regulations and state laws, which is why I wrote in with questions that would be relevant if someone would not want to be saved--for whatever reason.
One thing I have learned from working with students and colleagues with disabilities is that (a) the law can be very different from what's currently considered obvious, (b) what might be an "obvious" safety hazard may really not be so or can be modified so
that it isn't, and (c) there are many solutions to situations that seem impossible, which is an encouraging thought when needing to work with a diverse body of people. Would you think that a blind person could become a physician? Well, I know someone who
got an MD and PhD and has been blind since childhood, and he did and does an excellent job. Same for a quadriplegic MD. In that context, it does not seem unreasonable for people to work in wood or weld and be able to follow their religious beliefs.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have for me personally as someone who has worn headscarves and loose garments and worked in labs.
Best wishes,
Jafreen
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU]
on behalf of Alan Hall [ahalltoxic**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 2:24 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.
All,
In pre-hospital and hospital-ED emergency Medicine/Para-medicine response, at least in the US, we have two things:
1) The doctrine of implied consent -- if an ill or injured patient is unable to give consent, the responder/caregiver must assume that the patient would want to be saved/treated/helped.
2) The Good Samaritan Principle: a healthcare professional who renders aid in an emergency situation cannot be held liable for any not-so-good-outcomes unless there was gross negligence. I no longer do it often,
but if I am driving and come upon an auto accident with apparently injured folks and no police or Fire/EMS folks are on the scene, I will stop and render what aid I can -- in some cases this means stopping other untrained and well-wishing persons for making
injuries worse.
While I respect all persons' beliefs and faiths even if I practice none of them myself, once we get past the ADA issues, if they want to be in the lab then they have to abide by the rules, or else they can't be
there. Why not just a little Texas hoss-sense and be willing to say: "Do so or stay the backside of the moon out?"
There are 4 basic principles of ethics in medical care, and most folks only remember the first one -- and they are at times mutually contradicitive and cannot all be done in every case:
1. Non-malfeasance: "First of all, do no harm."
2: Beneficence: At the same time, try like all get out to do some good.
3. Autonomy: A competent patient has the right to refuse care.
4. Informed Consent: A competent patient of legally designated guardian, etc. has the right to have proposed care explained in a thorough manner before making a choice to accept or refuse the care proposed.
Try and balance all those in a case of a patient arriving in the ED with a life-threatening injury, illness of poisoning, do not add butter and salt or serve.
That's probably 4 cents worth, and not worth 4 cents (sense).
Former 20-years Board-Certified in Emergency Medicine
On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 6:30 PM, Sadeque, Jafreen <jsadeque**At_Symbol_Here**iupui.edu> wrote:
I wanted to provide clarification on my 2nd paragraph. I want to emphasize that my current and previous comments do not relate to issues of faith, but rather
on safety, individual choice and institutional decisions.
My first concern about being "warned to understand that a male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire" is what is the practical application of that? In an emergency,
do you provide assistance that you suspect the student would deny if they were able to give/withdraw consent, or do you go ahead and provide assistance? The foundation of the answer to this question would be based on laws and institutional policies. However,
in life-and-death and even less serious situations, it is first necessary to determine the factual accuracy of someone's wishes. This type of questions arises in hospitals with issues of resuscitation, any medical procedure for someone who cannot provide
informed consent, etc.
My second thought is that if someone has specific wishes related to medical/safety assistance during emergencies, then how should that be handled? First, I would think it would be the responsibility of the student/employee to make those wishes known, but the
responsibility of the institution to say something like, "If you have special needs then inform us" because the student/employee may not know how to handle the issue (very likely if they are a student--I am speaking about this from experience with students
with disabilities). Second, if a student does have requests, not wanting to be touched by the opposite gender in Monona's example, then to what extent is it necessary to abide by them in an emergency? The answer to that would, of course, depend on the request
and may be something that requires other departments of the institution than just lab personnel.
Sorry, I was wondering about the "And just TRY to get them out of their sandals!" Did one of your students who wears an abaya refuse
to wear close-toed shoes instead of, what I am assuming, are open-toed flimsy sandals? Could you explain their reservation with changing footwear?
Also, by whom were you warned that "a male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire"? Was it a female student in an abaya herself? I ask because I am in the medical profession and have performed physical exams on people of different genders
of different faiths. To keep it simple, I am aware that on many issues, even things such as blood transfusions, what one person says members of a religion believe can be completely incorrect, and even those that observe a particular faith can have beliefs
not representative or even considered acceptable by all members of their faith.
Oh thank you for covering this, Debbie. This is all too true. I consulted with Zayed University run by NYU at campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. And someone on this forum asked
"why special rules for these people?" Well, because these garments flow EVERYWHERE, not just a head scarf or sleave issue. And just TRY to get them out of their sandals! And you won't know they are wearing them. And their vision can be restricted in
some cases.
I was warned to understand that a male cannot touch one of these girls even if she is on fire.
And in my case, in addition to solvent painting and acid etching in printmaking, they wanted to do woodworking and welding. Go figure.
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon S. Chance <bchance**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:25 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Body piercings on laboratory researchers working in a chemical laboratory.
Below is a post from my previous life overseas addressing abayas and other culturally sensitive dress parameters while in the Middle East.
"As the lab safety manager for Texas A&M University at Qatar, I feel uniquely qualified to answer this question as at least 50% of our female students wear
either the Burka or Hijab. I will briefly outline the PPE requirements we use for Organic Chemistry Laboratory (which I also used to teach here) below.
Basically, lab coats with elastic cuffs are required to secure loose sleeves from the abaya. The Hijab or Burka is required to be securely tucked into the
lab coat collar. For those students that wear a Burka, we require them to wear a surgical mask in lieu of the facial covering (it basically covers the same amount as the Burka). Of course goggles and closed-toed shoes are required. In the 5 years I have
been here, this has been the standard policy and we have not had any negative feedback. Thus far, we have not had any students that insist on wearing the full face veil covering everything including their eyes. Some wear this in the hallways, but have no
problem removing it for lab courses (all of our courses are coeducational)..
Another thing you may want to be aware of is male TAs or faculty responsibilities for the students. I assume your lab instructors are trained to render basic
first aid or deal with chemical spills on a student. Due to religious sensitivities, if this is the case, it is a good idea for the instructor to ask for a female volunteer to act as a "helper" in emergencies as the male instructor will not be allowed to
touch a conservative female muslim student. It could be something as simple as the female volunteer applying a bandage or manning a drench shower."
I also wanted to mention that in the case of Mechanical Engineering labs and machine shops, they wore coveralls in order to deal with the loose sleeve issue.
Brandon S. Chance, M.S., CCHO
Program Manager, Chemical Safety
Environmental Health and Safety
"The second I feel like I made it, the second I feel like I've arrived, that's the second someone will take my spot. And I like my spot." J.J. Watt – Houston
Texans
I’d also be interested in anyone who might have a policy on flowing head scarves or wide sleeves on garments.
University of California, Davis
Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction
that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions,
can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."
Has anyone had to address the need for an ESH policy on prohibiting, permitting and/or limiting facial and/or body piercings on laboratory researchers ?
Can you share you policies?
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Avenue, Bldg. 200/R-001
