Ralph,
Back in the 1930's when I was a young chemist, there was little if any
emphasis on safety in the academic world. I had one chemistry teacher, in
High School, who indeed was safety-minded--but he was a rare breed.
So, in my experience, safety in the chemical academic world has been a
problem for something around 80 years, at least. If anything, in my
experience the problem is not nearly as bad now as it was then.
Jay Young
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ralph Stuart"
To:
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] 3 Re: [DCHAS-L] OSHA Lab Standard Effectiveness
>> >I suspect that fundamental change in safety culture is sorely
>> needed in the majority of academic labs and their inhabitants - and this
>> is just not supported by many academic administrations who see safety as
>> just an add-on rather than an integrated part of learning and research
>> involving human beings.
>>
>> >I would be interested to hear what others think about this aspect
>> of safety culture and accountability.
>>
> I agree that there is a cultural disconnect between the academic
> laboratory culture and external expectations of safety culture and
> accountability. I think that one reason for this is the major increase in
> the amount and diversity of research labs over the last 20 years without
> a concomitant increase in administrative support (although there has been
> a significant increase in, for example, EHS support for labs, I don't
> believe that it has kept up with extent of lab work and the increase in
> regulation of hazardous materials and other oversight issues that affect
> labs).
>
> As the UCLA report pointed out, information about the kind of work that's
> going on in these labs is not well organized centrally, so the support
> needs of the laboratory workers, whether in terms of facility
> capabilities, or regulatory compliance assistance, or management of
> common equipment, is often lacking. And when these needs are not met, I
> suspect that it's easier to accept the accountability gaps that others
> have pointed to.
>
> Add to this the scientific tradition of independent research within
> academia and the history of scientific heros who have suffered health-
> wise for their work and there are many cultural messages that confuse the
> safety attitude of laboratory workers. In this respect, I'm heartened to
> hear that the UK seems to have made progress through its mandated risk
> assessment process at the lab level.
>
> - Ralph
>
> Ralph Stuart, CIH
> Environmental Safety Manager
> University of Vermont
> Environmental Safety Facility
> 667 Spear St. Burlington, VT 05405
>
> rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**uvm.edu
> fax: (802)656-5407
>
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