Over the course of 2016 and 2017, representatives of the American Chemical Society’s Committee on Chemical Safety and Division of Chemical Health and Safety developed an ACS policy statement on chemical safety as well as document describing Safety Guidelines for the Chemistry Professional. These are designed to support chemists as they perform their daily work in safe and environmentally responsible way.
Tag Archives: Safety Culture
Developing a Safety Culture
Institutional & Enterprise Level Efforts to Developing a Safety Culture
The Chemical Safety Board: Safety is good business and good policy. V. Sutherland
Safety Googles aren’t for nerds. T. George
Changing the federal oversight model of the Department of Energy National Laboratories. J. McBrearty
Are you prepared for a journey? K. Jeskie
Grassroots Approaches to Developing a Safety Culture
Improving Safety in the Chemical Enterprise Through Transparent Sharing of Best Safety Practices. M. Jones, L. Sellor, Dow
Back to Safety Basics at Northwestern University. M. Blayney
Building a Safety Culture: An Undergrad Perspective N. Fredstrom
OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs. D. Kalinowski
The Joint Safety Team: A researcher-led initiative for improving academic safety culture C. Gee
Building a Safety Culture Across the Chemical Enterprise
Building and Promoting SMS in the Federal Government. R. Meidl
Safety training vs safety education N. Bharti
Challenges and Rewards in Enforcing Laboratory Safety – First Year on the Job. R. Malaisamy
Safety Guidelines for the Chemistry Professional. K.P. Fivizzani
Safety Culture Partnering Faculty S. Elwood, R.M. Izzo, K. Angjelo
Development and implementation of a researcher oriented program J.G. Palmer
Establishing a Sustainable Safety Culture in Academic Research Labs. K.A. Miller
Chemophobia
Chemicals – The Good, Bad, and the Ugly S.B. Sigmann
Public Perception of the Chemical Enterprise The Good The Bad and the Uncertain. M.E. Jones
ACS role in Communicating chemical safety. J. Kemsley
Developing design principles for ‘lesson learned’ laboratory safety videos. H. Weizman
It’s no accident that many journalists don’t write clearly about lab safety incidents. B. Benderly
Hazmat event reporting in the media. R. Stuart
JCHAS Spotlight: Ergonomics of Glove Boxes
The Editor’s Spotlight for the July / August 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety is shining on:
Rotator cuff strength balance in glovebox workers (link to PDF version)
By Cindy M. Lawton, Amelia M. Weaver, Martha K.Y. Chan, Michael E. Cournoyer
The abstract is:
Gloveboxes are essential to the pharmaceutical, semi-conductor, nuclear, and biochemical industries. While gloveboxes serve as effective containment systems, they are often difficult to work in and present a number of ergonomic hazards. One such hazard is injury to the rotator cuff, a group of tendons and muscles in the shoulder, connecting the upper arm to the shoulder blade. Rotator cuff integrity is critical to shoulder health. This study compared the rotator cuff muscle strength ratios of glovebox workers to the healthy norm. Descriptive statistics were collected using a short questionnaire. Handheld dynamometry was used to quantify the ratio of forces produced for shoulder internal and external rotation. Results showed this population to have shoulder strength ratios significantly different from the healthy norm. Strength ratios were found to be a sound predictor of symptom incidence. The deviation from the normal ratio demonstrates the need for solutions designed to reduce the workload on the rotator cuff musculature in order to improve health and safety. Assessment of strength ratios can be used to screen for risk of symptom development. This increases technical knowledge and augments operational safety.
Other articles in this issue are:
Whither CSB?
Harry J. Elston
A software for managing chemical processes in a multi-user laboratory
F.E. Camino
Rotator cuff strength balance in glovebox workers
Cindy M. Lawton, Amelia M. Weaver, Martha K.Y. Chan, Michael E. Cournoyer
Assessment of shooter’s task-based exposure to airborne lead and acidic gas at indoor and outdoor ranges
Jun Wang, Hailong Li, Marcio L.S. Bezerra
Make safety awareness a priority: Use a login software in your research facility
F.E. Camino
JCHAS Spotlight: Bowtie Diagrams
The Editor’s Spotlight for the May / June 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety is shining on:
Using bowtie methodology to support laboratory hazard identification, risk management, and incident analysis by Mary Beth Mulcahy, Chris Boylan,
Samuella Sigmann, and Ralph Stuart.
This is based on a technical program workshop which Mary Beth and Chris led at the 2016 San Diego ACS National Meeting and describes how a graphical tool for organized laboratory risk assessment and incident information can support a strong laboratory safety culture.
The abstract is:
Hazard prevention and control systems for specific laboratory processes must be readily shared between lab workers, their colleagues, and lab supervisors. In order for these control systems to be effective in a transferable and sustainable way, effective risk management communication tools must be present. These tools need to be adaptable and sustainable as research processes change in response to evolving scientific needs in discovery based laboratories.
In this manuscript, the application of a risk management tool developed in the oil and gas industry known as a ‘‘bowtie diagram’’ is assessed for application in the laboratory setting. The challenges of identifying laboratory hazards and managing associated risks as well as early experiences in adapting bowtie diagrams to the laboratory setting are described. Background information about the bowtie approach is provided and the technique illustrated using an academic laboratory research scenario. We also outline the role bowtie diagrams could play in a proactive safety culture program by facilitating hazard communication and maintaining hazard awareness across a wide spectrum of stakeholders.
After the Settlement: Today’s Chemical Safety Programs in the UCal System
What Have We Learned & Where Are We Going: Post-Settlement in the University of California
Organizers: D. Decker, J. Palmer
Moving from compliance to safety in UC laboratories. C.A. Merlic
2700 Miles and a big step forward: The UC settlement and Princeton University.
Beyond compliance: Building safety culture at UCLA. C. Dimock, S. Hsieh
Moving on after the settlement – the approach of a small University of California campus. K. Smith
Establishing a student-enforced safety culture in academic research labs. K.A. Miller
Heavy lifting of compliance: A graduate student perspective. A. Manlove, B. Anderson, N. Nunez
Continuing to promote careful chemistry in the post-settlement era. J.G. Palmer, L.S. Wong
Information Flow in Environmental Health & Safety
Information Flow in Environmental Health & Safety
At the Spring, 2017 ACS national meeting, the Divisions of Chemical Information and Chemical Health and Safety co-sponsored a program on Information Flow in Environmental Health and Safety. The symposia presented a variety of use cases for chemical information tools that range from lab-specific to very general. Links to the PDF versions of the presentations are provided below.
A System, Not a Solution, R. Stuart
Chemical info needed to establish lab vent Control Bands, E. Sweet
Reaction Incident Information, C. Nitsche
Chemical Management Applications for the University of California, P. Painter
Grad Student Perspective on the ACS Risk Assessment Tool, K. Delinger
Explorit Everywhere for ACS Chem Safety, A. Lederman
EPA CompTox chemistry dashboard resource, A. Williams
Safety Training Content
Best Practices in Selecting & Presenting Safety Training Content
Technical presentations from the March, 2017 national American Chemical Safety meeting.
Connecting safety culture to academic mission,
R. Stuart
Preliminary Results of Survey,
E. Sweet
Flipped Classroom Techniques in Lab Safety Training
R. Izzo
Safety Culture & Training
M. Wilhelm
Relevant content positive attitude memorable presentation,
K. Fivizzani
Analysis of injury data to improve safety and training
The Editor’s Spotlight for the January / February 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety is shining on:
Analysis of injury data to improve safety and training by Heather Simmons, Betsy Matos and Stephen Simpson of Iowa State University.
The article describes how they used injury data to evaluate trends in laboratory-related injuries there between 2001 and 2014. As a result, they are moving away from classroom-only training and are incorporating multiple learning methods into our training program. In addition, we are utilizing near misses, narratives, and anecdotes to enhance learning.
Their new approach focuses on moving from a compliance-centered culture to one in which we use data to drive the decision-making process and our communications with researchers.
Other technical articles in this issue include:
Low level noise analysis in laboratory fume hood
Kang Chen, Jinlong Yang, Hongbo Zhang, Wenjun Zhang
Evaluation of the ECETOC TRA model for workplace inhalation exposure to ethylbenzene in Japan
Satoko Ishii, Ritsuko Katagiri, Kimiyoshi Kitamura, Masaaki Shimojima, Takeharu Wada
Investigation of a light fixture fire
James D. Jurney, Michael E. Cournoyer, Stanley Trujillo, Stephen B. Schreiber
Exploding misconceptions: Developing a culture of safety through learner driven activities
Shayna Burchett, Annalise Pfaff, Jack Hayes, Klaus Woelk