From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU]On Behalf Of JP
Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 4:15 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] New PPE video from UCSD

Folks, I usually just lurk - but I'm going to have to jump in on this thread...

               First - let me add my congratulations - Professor Weizman (Haim), my thanks to you and your team for sharing yet another outstanding example of a "short and educational" laboratory safety relevant video.  (FYI: I'm excluding myself from that 'team' - because I am now "officially retired" from UCSD - and besides I was out of town when Haim produced this video... but he did exactly what I would have anticipated - had I been available during the filming).

               Second - let me expand on what I see as the merits of Haim's approach to video shorts for 'educating' the academic lab 'workers' (students, p-docs, faculty etc.) on their environment and it's risks.  

               1. They are very compact but full of realistic tips and information...

               2. They don't attempt to be 'perfect' in their safety message.   They serve to prompt "you" the audience to think about risks you may face in your lab environment... they are "EDUCATIONAL".  They DO NOT try to address every possible concern.

               3. They use real students from our labs as actors and actresses - which helps make the scene seem more relevant and realistic than most "safety-training videos"...

               4. They are directed at target audiences (usually subsets of the 'academic' research community) but remain broadly relevant to everyone in our labs and beyond...  In this case the inclusion of "Phenol" in this short clip is undoubtedly intended to catch the interest and attention of 'biomedical and biological researchers' - who often seem to assume that everything they use is pretty 'benign' (i.e. "we only use buffers"...) despite their employing things like Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)..., or ... 'Phenol' in extractions..., or 30% Hydrogen peroxide..., or formalin, or a host of other hazardous -- but underestimated materials and risky procedures.

               5. (and finally) I find these videos are actually quite readily 'accepted' by the target community (students/young researchers) as useful guides to enhancing their in-lab behavior leading to real risk-reduction.  

Because of these videos I have seen "marked" improvements in behavior - and in the frequency that 'our' researchers are approaching campus safety professionals with concerns or questions.  The real challenge is in getting them to even think about risk assessment in the lab... In my opinion - these videos are definitely going to reduce the number of serious accidents and injuries.

As far as "PPE" is concerned - clearly wearing some eye protection is better than not wearing 'any' eye-protection... In my experience, getting folks to regularly wear even minimal eye-protection and other PPE, seems to lead to even better choices in wearing "appropriate eye-protection"  and PPE over the long run.

Sorry - got a bit long winded... guess that's just me... Soap-box off...

Have a safe weekend,  

               jp.

Sent from my iPad john palmer

On Aug 9, 2013, at 7:35 AM, Rita Kay Calhoun <r.calhoun**At_Symbol_Here**MOREHEADSTATE.EDU> wrote: