In response to Roger McClellan=E2=80=99s com
ments: Understand that in order for a =E2=80
=9Cculture=" of safety to take hold, one must begin with an ed
ucated (in safety) faculty and staff. I=E2=80=99ll
admit that my most safety conscious researchers are those that come from in
dustry.
Speaking from an academic viewpoint, it is u
nderstandable that those in industry ask the question,
Why should the acceptable standard for safety at Yale, UCLA Te
xas Tech or any academic institution be any different than that found at co
rporations that have been leaders in emphasizing a safety culture for decad
es?="
=E2=80=A6 but what corporations have are mul
tiple advantages not found in academia. These include:
1.
Ability to fire employees at will.
2.
Experienced work staff, mentoring younger emp
loyees.
3.
Long term employees, as opposed to those focused short term research and academics
4.
Larger safety budgets; raise the price
of the little blue pill by $1.00, and see your safety budget grow. In
stitutions, especially State, are seeing budgets cut, and staffing stagnate
.
5.
Better/larger laboratories; in academia
, researchers compete for their 2.5 linear feet of bench space, and fume ho
ods are a premium. Working off-hours enables more bench space at the
cost of breaking policy.
6.
Security/ restrictions on after-hours access
to labs. Industry hires guards.
I=E2=80=99m sure others in academia can add
to the list.
Regarding your example of a corprate exec po
inting out emergency exits-
How many flights have you been on where you
observed many in the cabin ignoring the flight attendent=E2=80=99s instruct
ions on emergency egress? Are you suggesting that they are all from a
cademia?
I refer you to Robert Hill=E2=80=99s (ed) bo
ok entitled Handbook of Chemical Health & Safety; it is not limit
ed to CHEMICAL safety; there are chapters on ergonomics, evacua
tion/shelter-in-place, process safety review, and control of hazardous ener
gy.
My son works for a private reseach instituti
on where on any given day, the execs will shut down operations on a Friday
afternoon, bring in snacks, and have everyone gather to watch a playoff gam
e in the conference room. That builds a team with buy-in towards the
company goals including a safety culture. That scenario is unlikely t
o play out in academia.
As the song lyric goes, "The D
ifficult I=E2=80=99ll do now; the Impossible will take awhile.="
Stefan Wawzyniecki, CIH, CHMM<
/SPAN>
NRCC-CHO
University of Connecticut
Past Chair DCHAS ACS
