Hi Meg:

 

There are indeed many wonderful resources, including those offered by the Laboratory Safety Institute in Natick, MA that are at least reasonably priced if not free. 

 

Having said that, the person you describe can’t really afford to cut corners.  Even the best of chemical safety courses will lack the urgency that is necessary for such a position if the trainee has no experience in an actual laboratory setting.  We are a large K-12 school district, and although our hazardous materials are fewer and les hazardous than those in a technical college, I don’t think I could be effective as a science supervisor unless I had a variety of laboratory experience.  I’m with Harry Elston on this one.  In addition to various laboratory safety coursework, this person should have at least two semesters of laboratory science, preferably chemistry, just to experience working with materials that pose a health risk.

 

 

 

Hello All,

 

My direct supervisor has recently learned that he is responsible legally and civilly if we have an accident, since he has given no oversight of the chem lab/stockroom safety.  He wants to learn, and I want to support him in that.  His training does not include any hard sciences.  His degree is in Psychology, and he never took any lab sciences in college, and no chem lab ever. 

 

I’m hoping someone can direct me to an appropriate, free or cheap, on-line training that wouldn’t be overwhelming with details he won’t understand.  Does anyone know of such a program, that is specific to the safety issues in hard science labs. (He is also the supervisor of the bio labs, and the microbio and A&P labs.)

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

Meg

 

Meg Osterby

Lead Chemistry Instructor

Western Technical College

400 7th St. N.

LaCrosse, WI 54601

osterbym**At_Symbol_Here**westerntc.edu

608-789-4714

 

"It's  better to be careful 100 times, than to be killed once." 

                                                    Mark Twain