At the September CSHEMA regional meeting, three DCHAS members (Gail Hall of Boston College, Zehra Schneider-Graham of the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Ralph Stuart of Keene State College) participated in a panel discussion about how Environmental Health and Safety Departments can best support laboratory safety culture through their safety training efforts. The presentations discussed the challenge of developing training programs that reflected the institutional culture while also addressing regulatory requirements.
Three key lessons from the Lab-XL project with the EPA were highlighted:
- Each academic institution is unique
- Connecting to the academic mission is necessary to motivate organizational change
- Flexibility goes a long way in laboratory settings
In addition to describing approaches to this issue in the undergraduate and graduate laboratory settings, the panel presented the results of a DCHAS/CSHEMA survey of safety education efforts. PDF versions of the presentations and the survey results are provided here:
Developing Safety Culture Education at a PUI Campus, Ralph Stuart
Naming the Dead Cat in the Middle of the Table, Gail Hall
Survey on Lab Safety Culture Education on Campus, Zehra Schneider-Graham
Safety Culture Education Survey Results Data (in PDF) (if you are interested in these data in Excel format for further exploration, contact Ralph Stuart at ralph.stuart@keene.edu).
Also note this related article from the Journal of Chemical Education on Using the Universal Design for Learning Approach in Science Laboratories To Minimize Student Stress
Where I could find the result of this discussion?
The discussion that grew out of the presentations on this page was not recorded, so the powerpoint files on this page are the results of this effort.
Let me know if you have any questions about this.
– Ralph