Committee on Chemical Safety
What We Do
Welcome to the Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS). This section highlights the Committee's activities and provides administrative resources for its members. Our primary activities include:
- Publication of standards, tools, and other materials for use in classrooms, laboratories, and the workplace
- Development of safety policy statements for the ACS Board of Directors
- Providing advice and assistance to other ACS committees and members
- Presentation and sponsorship of symposia.
Mission
CCS provides collaborative leadership and resources to advance chemical safety.
Vision
A scientific community that embraces safety in all activities of the chemistry enterprise.
Goals
- Goal 1: Foster collaborative partnerships to advance safe chemistry.
- Goal 2: Create and compile chemical safety resources that are current, well-managed and authoritative.
- Goal 3: Ensure effective dissemination of high quality chemical safety resources.
- Goal 4: Optimize CCS structure and operations to achieve strategic goals and ongoing responsibilities.
Who We Are
History
In 1963, the Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS) was established as a joint Board-Council committee. Since that time, CCS has created and maintained numerous guiding safety documents which are in wide use throughout the chemistry enterprise. In 2016, ACS CEO Tom Connelly detailed ACS’s role in Chemical Safety. Since that time, ACS has added safety as a core value, created ACS Safety Programs in the Office of Scientific Advancement to align messaging and content, and added a requirement for safety statements in articles published in ACS journals.
How CCS Lives its Mission
- CCS works with the Committee on Professional Training (CPT) to ensure that the approved undergraduate programs provide the most up-to-date and best practices in chemical safety education.
- The 2023 ACS Guidelines for Bachelor’s Degree Programs contain a full section on safety guidance for approved programs.
- CCS maintains two Position Statements for the Society. Through these statements, CCS communicates the safe and responsible chemical use. CCS also works with the ACS Green Chemistry Institute to promote safe and responsible chemical use:
- CCS supports the Division of Chemical Health and Safety (CHAS) in their technical programming and workshops at the Fall, Spring, and regional meetings. We also support activities at the Local Section level
- CCS works closely with CHAS to promote safety in graduate education through mentorship activities, peer-led workshops, and ACS Webinars.
- Along with Safety Programs, CCS supports ACS Presidential Safety Summits.
Events
Fall 2024 Symposium |Raising Safety in Research: Engaging Graduate Students in Laboratory Safety: Opportunities for Empowerment, Collaboration & Professional Development
Session I: August 21, 2024 | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM MDT
Session II: August 21, 2024 | 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM MDT
Location: Bluebird Ballroom 3C (Colorado Convention Center)
This symposium will focus on strategies that address compliance and aim to empower graduate students to take an active role in creating a positive safety culture. Designed to gather stakeholders to discuss community-based efforts to enhance academic safety cultures, the symposium will include a panel discussion with representatives from industry and a networking session.
The session(s) are co-sponsored by the Division of Chemical Health & Safety (CHAS), the Division of Organic Chemistry (DOC), the Committee on Corporation Associates (CA), the Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS), the Multidisciplinary Program planning Group (MPPG), and the ACS Office of Safety Programs.
Learn More & View the Fall 2024 Schedule
Projects & Announcements
- Applications for the CCS High School Chemical Safety Grant are open starting in the Spring, through August 1st each year.
- The CCS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect (DEIR) Task Force will finalize the final two editorials in a series of three and submit them to the Journal of American Chemical Society (JACS) in early 2024 for publication. The first editorial, Reducing Risk: Strategies to Advance Laboratory Safety through Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect, has been viewed nearly 6,000 times since its May 2023 publication.
Member Resources
More About ACS Chemical Safety:
More About ACS Committees:
Login required: CCS Members may request access to the online collaboration space by emailing safety@acs.org
Contact Us
Email Rachel Bocwinski, Staff Liaison, with questions or for more information about the Committee on Chemical Safety.