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Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (11 articles) Date: Friday, March 14, 2014 7:28:48 AM Author: Secretary ACS DCHAS <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org> |
Next by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Empowered Students and Postdocs Drive Lab Safety Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:59:53 +0000 Author: David C. Finster |
A lab safety article from Science Magazine
Empowered Students and Postdocs Drive Lab Safety
Some organizations start their gatherings with a prayer or a song or the Pledge of Allegiance. At the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities' (UMTC's) Department of Chemistry?and also the university's chemical engineering and materials science (CEMS) department?no lab meeting or departmental seminar gets underway without a "safety moment," a presentation about a lab safety topic that lasts a minute or two. It can be funny or serious. It can consist of just talk or include slides, props, or a demonstration?whatever the presentation's host chooses. What it can't be is too long, or missing.
This exotic custom, which often startles visitors from other universities, is perhaps the most visible sign of an ongoing transformation in departmental culture that, in less than 2 years, has made safety a central concern of daily life in these labs. Even more remarkably, this change, though strongly supported by the departments' top leadership, largely results from planning, organizing and management by scores of graduate students and postdocs working together as a volunteer group called the Joint Safety Team (JST).
The JST aims for nothing less than to "inculcate safety as a core value and an integral part of academic life," says chemistry Chair William Tolman in a webinar describing the program. BioRAFT, a company that makes software for managing university laboratories, was the webinar's sponsor.