From: Barbara Foster <bfoster**At_Symbol_Here**WVU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Workplace and Laboratory Attire
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2013 13:51:47 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 52555F73.843A.0044.1**At_Symbol_Here**mail.wvu.edu
In-Reply-To <3F30C6C05728AC48B01CD61A439F2686E2634DE6**At_Symbol_Here**usvfmbx02>


Pat:
I suggest that you make your dress code clear to all potential interns in your introductory letter and also on the intern section of your Web site.
Upon hiring, the interns should sign off on your safety rules and regulations, agreeing to follow all policies as part of their contractual agreement.
Undergraduate students who contact me and want to work with my lab staff are given a job description and safety rules and must sign off that they have read the rules and agree to the terms. And yes, we DO dismiss folks who do not follow the safety rules and personal apparel policy.
-Barbara


Safety Requirements (listed on job description)

 

The employee:

=EF=80=BC             must follow all established safety rules and regulations.

=EF=80=BC             is hereby advised that he or she will not be permitted to wear shorts or sandals to work. Employees must wear the equivalent of a t-shirt and clothing that covers their legs for their personal protection. Upon request, the employee may be assigned a locker for the storage of work clothing.

=EF=80=BC             is required to wear appropriate clothing, chemical splash goggles, and a laboratory apron/lab coat at all times in the Prep Rooms, academic laboratories, in storage areas, and while transporting chemicals.

 Failure to follow all safety rules and regulations will result in dismissal.


Snipped from our safety rules for undergrads who work in the Prep Room:

 

C. Students should wear cotton clothing that provides protection from chemical spills. Clothing which completely covers the legs must be worn at all times in the laboratory. Shorts and skirts that do not completely cover the leg are inappropriate apparel in the laboratory and are not permitted. To avoid exposure to hazardous materials, open-backed shirts, bare midriff shirts, or shirts which expose areas of the torso are not permitted. You must wear the equivalent of a t-shirt when working in the Prep Room.

    D.    Wear shoes which completely cover the feet. Sandals, perforated shoes, open-toed shoes, open-backed shoes, or high-heeled shoes are not permitted in the Prep Room.

 

 



>>> "Peifer, Patricia" <Patricia.Peifer**At_Symbol_Here**WESTPHARMA.COM> 10/9/2013 12:34 PM >>>

All,

 

I work for a company that accepts college students as  paid summer interns and also as 6-month term Co-Ops.   The students we accept are majors in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biology.   They are sophomore and junior level students. 

 

We are having problems with the attire of many of the young ladies who come to us.  The young men have so far not presented any problems.  The problems are these:

1.       The student has accepted an internship or Co-Op with us that involves working in chemistry laboratory.  I am sure they have all taken a college level chemistry class, probably several.  Yet they show up on the first day with cloth sneakers, sandals, leggings that expose half their bare leg, etc.  When told that this is not proper lab attire, they are confused and reply that they have nothing of the sort we consider proper.  We require pants (or a skirt ) that covers the entire leg and a shoe that covers their entire foot and is leather or fake leather.  We even buy them an appropriate shoe, they just have to have something that will get them by for the 5 or 6 days it takes for the company-provided shoe to come in.  It is sometimes a real struggle - they don't have a shoe that will get them by, they have absolutely no appropriate pants (or so they say), when the ordered shoe comes in they for some reason "forget" to wear it into the lab, I could go on and on. 

2.       Attire that is simply not appropriate for the business environment.  Very short skirts, overly sheer tops, crop tops that expose the belly, extremely high heels, etc.  A Human Resources colleague of mine describes it as "hooker attire".  Maybe a little exaggerated, but you get the idea.  Our company has on at least one occasion sent an intern home to change clothing, and there are many other instances where we SHOULD have sent someone home.

 

These young ladies are majoring in a hard subjects and get good grades or we would not accept them as interns or Co-Ops.  I do not think they realize how bad they make themselves look when employers have to speak with them about their attire.  I also think they do not realize how hard previous generations of women have fought for women to be taken seriously in the workplace.  Their dress does not advance that cause.

 

I am going to suggest that my company send out information to potential interns on dress requirements especially for chemical laboratories.  Academic institutions can certainly help provide guidance on this too.  I think parents used to do this, but I believe that is over.    

 

Thank you for listening.  Yes, I am old and growing increasingly grumpy.  And I wear slip-resistant shoes that cover my entire foot and look rather dorky because I choose to work in a chemistry laboratory.   

 

Pat Peifer, CCHO

Safety and Chemical Hygiene Specialist

 

Find West on Twitter and LinkedIn.


The contents of this message are confidential and may be privileged. If you have received this message in error, please permanently delete it, along with any files that may be attached to this message, without reading, printing, copying, forwarding or otherwise distributing it. Please notify the sender of the error immediately so that we can prevent it from happening again.

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.