As a 3rd party consultant, I have audited over 20 National Labs and Universities in the last 10 years. One of the challenges I see is the PI recognizing that they have a problem and then admitting that they have no clue as to how to resolve it. How does a world renowned expert seek advice from ESH? As Craig and others have indicated, we need to build an effective support system that will not expose their weak side. Far too many accidents have occurred because this has been ignored or not addressed.
I have formally documented conflicts with the Fire Codes or National Standards only to be rebuffed as not being knowledgeable in their area of expertise. We can all agree that a minimum set of safety rules should be followed, such as hazard labelling, compatible materials, pressure rating, cylinder prefill inspection, etc for any procedure. Yet this documentation does not exist for many procedures.
Eugene Ngai
Chemically Speaking LLC
www.chemicallyspeakingllc.com
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> On Behalf Of Craig Merlic
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2019 11:46 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] [EXT] Re: [DCHAS-L] Thoughts?
Dear All,
Yes, there are some recalcitrant faculty, but it is important to remember that the great majority of faculty care about doing the right things and they care deeply about their students. And EHS professionals need to be viewed as collaborators in facilitating safe work practices and not lab police. That goes a long way in getting buy-in by researchers.
One, out of many, EHS actions to pursue is to actively help research groups identify hazards, assess risks, and develop mitigation measures. Too often researchers see lab inspectors only focus on simplistic findings rather than diving deeply into potentially hazardous lab procedures.
Ideally, regulatory compliance is not the end goal of a safety program, but rather the outcome of a strong culture of safety in the workplace.
So how to deal with difficult researchers after all other approaches failed? UCLA created an escalation process to address this:
http://rsawa.research.ucla.edu/cpsc/laboratory-safety-compliance/
The policy was created by a faculty lab safety committee and that committee, not EH&S, does the enforcement.
Looking back over about five years since it was instituted: no Tier 2 finding has ever been necessary, far less than 1% of wet labs ever receive a Tier 1 finding, and the small number of labs that do not address lab inspection findings within 60-90 days do so immediately upon being reminded of the compliance process. As a result, UCLA has 100% compliance with faculty addressing all findings from EH&S lab inspection reports.
Best,
Craig Merlic
Professor of Chemistry
UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
UC Center for Laboratory Safety
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569
Dear All:
Please note that ACS had published rather practical guide on elements of safety culture in Academic Institutions at
https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/academic-safety-culture-report.pdf
One recommendation is to establish collaborative and trusting partnerships among members of the institution, especially among faculty, staff, and environmental health and safety professionals. One of such "bright spots" is a growing number of Safety Joint Teams. These are groups of graduate postdoctoral researchers that work with the departments of environmental health and safety on increasing safety awareness, provide safety related skills and resources to assist researchers, and establish a network of communication. The graduate students offer workshops at the ACS National Meetings to engage with other young researchers. Often this new generation of chemists is an important driving force for safety in their research unit!
Marta Gmurczyk
Marta U. Gmurczyk, Ph.D.
Safety Programs Manager| Scientific Advancement Division
1155 16th St., NW | Washington | DC 20036
T 202-452-2105 | F 202-872-8068
www.acs.org
--------=E2=80"-------=E2=80"---
ACS Chemistry for Life
American Chemical Society
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> On Behalf Of Lucy Dillman
Sent: Saturday, August 3, 2019 1:24 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [EXT] Re: [DCHAS-L] Thoughts?
[Actual Sender is owner-dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**princeton.edu]
The renowned researcher probably does no real work in his lab. I would approach his staff. I would get them as much training time as possible and make them largely responsible for implementing safe practices (including PPE, waste disposal, etc.) as you can, emphasizing their personal responsibility and possible penalties (monetary, loss of job, loss of life and limb, etc.) that come from not following "the rules." Safety practices supposedly come from the "top down," but with someone like "RR" you will probably have better luck from the bottom up. Speaking of which, good luck.
Easier said than done in academia, and Tiffany has not even hinted at whether she has the clout to do that. That is why she is receiving advise about developing allies, elevating the issue, etc.
Peter Zavon, CIH
Penfield, NY
PZAVON**At_Symbol_Here**Rochester.rr.com
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Geoffrey Giarmo
Sent: Friday, August 02, 2019 4:36 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Thoughts?
Worst case: Shut them down until a plan is in place to remedy the unsafe situation. Waiting for an accident to happen is an unacceptable risk for any institution or corporation. Turning a blind eye or overlooking violations will encourage them elsewhere and will leave your institution liable and may leave you personally liable in the event of an incident.
Good afternoon all!
I know as safety professionals we've all faced some very interesting situations, but I was curious as to everyone's thoughts on a situation similar to the one below.
How did you approach the situation? What did you try that worked? What did you try that maybe didn't work as well as you had hoped? Maybe the problem wasn't completely solved but it improved? Did you have to reach out for assistance? I know we all have different environments and experiences and it's these differences that make our shared experiences invaluable.
Situation:
A renowned researcher is bringing in large sums of funding and greatly adding to the prestige of a facility/institution. This individual, however, has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for safety. Others in the group are aware of this but are reluctant to comment. They wonder how/why this individual can continue operating in this manner.
Thanks so much for your thoughts!
Regards,
Tiffany
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
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