Creating a Safety Culture
Section 3
A strong safety culture protects faculty, students, and staff; promotes a sense of confidence among employees and students; and allows everyone on campus to focus on their work. Key aspects of this culture include a safety-first mindset, respect for chemical processes, and safe laboratory experimentation. A safety culture requires appropriate administrative support, infrastructure, curriculum, and instructor training, as well as commitment from all constituencies.
Training students in laboratory safety is critical in any chemistry-based program and safety skills are transferable to many fields of science, medicine, and more. Students must be trained to plan for potential safety incidents and how to resolve them for processes they and their colleagues are performing. The goal is the safe practice of our profession.
The guidelines outlined below reflect the need for students to work in a safe laboratory environment and to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to work safely in their future careers. Academic administrators, faculty members, and staff must understand their roles in educating students about safety and in supporting a culture of safety through shared responsibility.
If you're interested in staying informed on issues surrounding chemical and lab safety, there are multiple opportunities available through ACS.
Resources: Section 3, Safety
- Foundations of Chemical Safety and Risk Management (free course)The purpose of this course is to offer education on chemical safety concepts for undergraduate students. The course is organized around the R.A.M.P. chemical safety concept - Recognize hazards, Assess the risks from the hazards, Minimize and manage the risks, and Prepare for the unexpected and emergencies.
- Fundamentals of Hazard Assessment (webpage)
- Guidelines for Chemical Laboratory Safety in Academic Institutions (booklet, pdf). These guidelines are intended to assist faculty and staff as they develop, enhance, and assess the safety education of their students.
- RAMP Template (pdf). This template can be used to help recognize hazards, assess and minimize risks of those hazards, and prepare for emergencies.
Essential Components
Safety Culture
- Laboratory courses are conducted in a safe environment and promote a safety culture.
Regulations and Infrastructure
- There is a written chemical hygiene plan that
- Is consistent with OSHA/state regulations.
- Is included in the teaching and research activities of the program.
- Recognizes hazards encountered in teaching and research activities.
- Includes hazardous waste management.
- Properly functioning and appropriate fume hoods, safety showers, eyewashes, first aid kits, and fire extinguishers are readily available.
- Eyewash and shower stations are regularly tested and inspected.
- Labs meet applicable OSHA safety regulations.
- Appropriate PPE is readily available to students, staff, and faculty.
- The program establishes and maintains an incident reporting system, an incident investigation system, and an incident database reviewed by the safety committee.
- No faculty member should be responsible for more than 25 students in a laboratory at one time.
Training and Education
- Students, faculty, and staff are instructed in the aspects of modern chemical safety appropriate to their educational level and scientific needs.
- The promotion of safety awareness and skills begins during the first laboratory experience and should be incorporated into each lab experience thereafter.
- Students undergo general safety instruction as well as lab-specific instruction before beginning research.
- Safety understanding and skills are developed and assessed throughout the curriculum.
- Training for students includes instruction on how to
- Carry out responsible disposal techniques for both chemicals and damaged glassware.
- Comply with safety regulations.
- Properly use personal protective equipment to minimize exposure to hazards.
- Understand the categories of hazards associated with chemicals (health, physical, and environmental).
- Use Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) and other standard printed and online safety reference materials.
- Recognize chemical and physical hazards in laboratories, assess the risks from these hazards, know how to minimize the risks, and prepare for emergencies such as fires, explosions, chemical exposures, injuries, and chemical spills,
- properly use emergency equipment (e.g., fire extinguishers, eyewash stations, safety showers, spill kits, first aid kits, fire alarms, and fire blankets).
Successful Practices
Safety Culture
- Deans, directors, and chairs work with administrators on an annual basis to establish institutional support and an adequate budget to maintain safety infrastructure, education, training, and regulatory compliance.
Regulations and Infrastructure
- Safety plans for each space recognize the hazards encountered in the instructional and research activities within that space.
- Chemistry classrooms, labs, storage areas, and faculty offices should be in close proximity.
- The number of students supervised by a faculty member in an instructional lab should not exceed 20. However, many laboratories require smaller numbers for safe and effective instruction.
- Periodic spot observations of chemical users' safety behaviors in teaching laboratories.
Training and Education
- Students are provided with instruction that:
- Allows them to properly select and use personal protective equipment to minimize exposure to hazards.
- Teaches them responsible disposal techniques.
- Students learn RAMP (Recognize hazards, Assess the risks of hazards, Minimize the risks of hazards, and Prepare for emergencies) analyses with the goal of teaching students to conduct these analyses.
- Programs include a RAMP analysis in the development of all new teaching lab experiments.
Aspirational Goals
Safety Culture
- Students recognize that safety is a community endeavor, and every community member plays a role in maintaining a safe environment.
Regulations and Infrastructure
- Students are provided with instruction about state and federal safety regulations and compliance.
Training and Education
- Students have access to a course in chemical safety and/or toxicology.
- Departments seek reduction of chemical use and hazardous waste generation and embrace green chemistry principles.
- There is a system to promote safety that encompasses electronic communications, printed materials, special seminars, or events discussing or promoting safety/safety moments, a recognition system for good safety performance, and a process to solicit, review, and act on suggestions for improving safety and identifying safety issues.
- Students actively participate in aspects of the safety program (such as the safety committee).
- Deans, directors, and chairs are actively involved in the safety program.
- Incidents are discussed within the department.
