Our company has worked with a large university on various aspects of lab safety, and I couldn’t agree more with this philosophy.  One of our goals was to help upgrade the practices to those of industrial standards, and having the PI outwardly demonstrate that safety is paramount to the lab’s success and university’s success is critical – and one followed in well-performing companies.

 

I have personally been involved with the safety mindset turnaround of a specialty chemicals business.  Change can’t be effected by the middle management.  The CEO and the entire staff need to be on board and communicate the same message (with the same gravity ) throughout the organization.  It took over two years for this philosophy to permeate all aspects of the company.

 

 

Michael C. Fisher
President
The CECON Group
242 N. James Street, Suite 202
Wilmington, DE 19804-3168

302.994.8000
302.994.8837 fax
mfisher**At_Symbol_Here**cecon.com
www.cecon.com

Experts at Finding Technical Experts™

 

-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Ralph B. Stuart
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2014 9:42 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] C&EN article: Chemistry Professors Promote Lab Safety

 

DCHAS people with access to C&EN on line are likely to be interested in the article at http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i23/Chemistry-Professors-Promote-Lab-Safety.html

 

The lead paragraphs:

When it comes to training students and postdoctoral researchers to work safely in academic laboratories, it is hard to overemphasize the importance of the head of the lab-the principal investigator (PI).

 

"The PI sets the tone for how a lab is going to act and operate," says Dominick J. Casadonte Jr., a chemistry professor at Texas Tech University. "If the PI is very safety conscious and has safety as a priority, then students and professionals in the lab will also have it as a high priority."

...

 

- Ralph

 

Ralph Stuart CIH

Chemical Hygiene Officer

Department of Environmental Health and Safety Cornell University

 

rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**cornell.edu