CHAS Members:
 
As Chair-Elect of CHAS and a member of the ACS Joint Board-Council
Committee on Chemical Safety, I feel that I must respond to the
membership regarding the ACS Lab Safety Short Course issue. Jim Kapin
has indicated that "most respondents" agreed with his opinions, but I
did not agree. I believe that CHAS does not own the rights to conduct
laboratory safety workshops and everyone who conducts lab safety courses
does not have to be a member of CHAS.  Actually, I have reviewed the
outline of this course
(http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=education%5cprofessional%5cscqr03.html)
and it seems to be very well organized. I have been thinking of
attending this short course myself, based on the marvelous comments of
some colleagues about the Toxicology I and II courses that are offered
by the ACS.
 
FYI: Polymer Chemistry and Organic Chemistry are ACS Divisions and are
also topics of ACS Short Courses. 
 
Please let me take this opportunity to say that I believe that there
are many safety-related issues that are important to CHAS members.
Several come to mind (i.e., responsibilities of CHOs, creation/revision
of Chemical Hygiene Plans, staying current with federal regs, chemical
management issues, training responsibilities, enforcement of safety
rules and policies, laboratory inspections, and PPE) but I would like to
hear from our membership.  Do you have laboratory safety
concerns/issues? What would be the ideal workshop topic for you and your
colleagues? Please notify a member of the Executive Committee
http://membership.acs.org/c/chas/officers.htm  before our San Francisco
meeting in September so that we may better serve you by addressing your
needs during our meeting.
 
Thank you for promoting laboratory safety in all that you do every
day.
 
Best regards to all,
Barbara
 
 
 
 
Barbara L. Foster, NRCC-CHO
Certified Chemical Hygiene Officer
Eberly College Safety Program Coordinator
C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry Safety Director
West Virginia University
C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry
Room 217 Clark Hall, Prospect Street
PO Box 6045
Morgantown, WV 26506-6045
Phone (304) 293-2729
FAX   (304) 293-4904
WORK SAFELY AND TEACH SAFETY
Secretary, ACS Committee on Chemical Safety
Chair-Elect, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
http://www.wvu.edu/~chemistry/safety/BarbaraLFoster.html

>>> Jim Kapin  05/25/06 12:31 AM >>>

Hi All,

Thank you all for your input - I received many very helpful responses. 

To summarize, most respondents felt as I do that it is not appropriate
for
the Office of Continuing Education to offer a workshop that is
essentially
identical to what we offer that does not acknowledge or recognize the
fact
that the ACS has an entire Technical Division (and Joint Board-Council
Committee, for that matter) dedicated to the subject.

To be clear, no one has suggested that CHAS has or should have a
monopoly on
the subject of lab safety or teaching lab safety.  Rather the issue is
that
CHAS and Continuing Education appear to be working at cross-purposes,
rather
than together, to promote laboratory safety.

In order to move forward with this, I have invited the Office of
Continuing
Education to attend our next executive committee meeting so we can
discuss
the situation and find a way for all of us to work together and
provide
better services for CHAS members as well as the ACS as a whole.  I
invite
all CHAS members to attend also.  After the meeting, I will inform the
list
about any decisions or plans.

Please let me know if anyone has any additional thoughts, suggestions,
input, etc. - Jim

James Kapin, MPH, CIH
(CHAS Chair, 2006)
Advanced Chemical Safety
858-874-5577, cell 610-990-5955

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