CHAS Members: As Chair-Elect of CHAS and a member of the ACS Joint Board-Council Committee on Chemical Safety, I feel that I must respond to the membership regarding the ACS Lab Safety Short Course issue. Jim Kapin has indicated that "most respondents" agreed with his opinions, but I did not agree. I believe that CHAS does not own the rights to conduct laboratory safety workshops and everyone who conducts lab safety courses does not have to be a member of CHAS. Actually, I have reviewed the outline of this course (http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=education%5cprofessional%5cscqr03.html) and it seems to be very well organized. I have been thinking of attending this short course myself, based on the marvelous comments of some colleagues about the Toxicology I and II courses that are offered by the ACS. FYI: Polymer Chemistry and Organic Chemistry are ACS Divisions and are also topics of ACS Short Courses. Please let me take this opportunity to say that I believe that there are many safety-related issues that are important to CHAS members. Several come to mind (i.e., responsibilities of CHOs, creation/revision of Chemical Hygiene Plans, staying current with federal regs, chemical management issues, training responsibilities, enforcement of safety rules and policies, laboratory inspections, and PPE) but I would like to hear from our membership. Do you have laboratory safety concerns/issues? What would be the ideal workshop topic for you and your colleagues? Please notify a member of the Executive Committee http://membership.acs.org/c/chas/officers.htm before our San Francisco meeting in September so that we may better serve you by addressing your needs during our meeting. Thank you for promoting laboratory safety in all that you do every day. Best regards to all, Barbara Barbara L. Foster, NRCC-CHO Certified Chemical Hygiene Officer Eberly College Safety Program Coordinator C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry Safety Director West Virginia University C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry Room 217 Clark Hall, Prospect Street PO Box 6045 Morgantown, WV 26506-6045 Phone (304) 293-2729 FAX (304) 293-4904 WORK SAFELY AND TEACH SAFETY Secretary, ACS Committee on Chemical Safety Chair-Elect, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety http://www.wvu.edu/~chemistry/safety/BarbaraLFoster.html >>> Jim Kapin05/25/06 12:31 AM >>> Hi All, Thank you all for your input - I received many very helpful responses. To summarize, most respondents felt as I do that it is not appropriate for the Office of Continuing Education to offer a workshop that is essentially identical to what we offer that does not acknowledge or recognize the fact that the ACS has an entire Technical Division (and Joint Board-Council Committee, for that matter) dedicated to the subject. To be clear, no one has suggested that CHAS has or should have a monopoly on the subject of lab safety or teaching lab safety. Rather the issue is that CHAS and Continuing Education appear to be working at cross-purposes, rather than together, to promote laboratory safety. In order to move forward with this, I have invited the Office of Continuing Education to attend our next executive committee meeting so we can discuss the situation and find a way for all of us to work together and provide better services for CHAS members as well as the ACS as a whole. I invite all CHAS members to attend also. After the meeting, I will inform the list about any decisions or plans. Please let me know if anyone has any additional thoughts, suggestions, input, etc. - Jim James Kapin, MPH, CIH (CHAS Chair, 2006) Advanced Chemical Safety 858-874-5577, cell 610-990-5955
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