From: Monique Wilhelm <mwilhelm**At_Symbol_Here**UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Admissions Tours in the Laboratories - Poster tangent
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2021 11:17:24 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: CAC5HN6bGUMCzB5XQp_3hni2pcR6uE4KZLPUehfJGtFAAP9PuTA**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To <70D812FB-5A5B-4AB3-9ECB-270FFB173F28**At_Symbol_Here**yale.edu>


Pete, I agree with you 100%.

Rotating the posters does help with getting them to not blend in to
the environment. I took a cue from the UCI Safety Moment posters and
have been taking common issues such as the first week of heating in a
lab, we put posters throughout the lab that remind them hot and cold
glassware look the same. It takes a bit of time to constantly do
this, so we have assigned weekly rotating of the posters to a work
study student. And, guess what? The incident reports for burns went
down when we started doing this.
_________________________________________________________
Monique Wilhelm
Lab Manager
CAS, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry | The University of Michigan-Flint
303 E. Kearsley St | Room 572 MSB | Flint, MI | 48502-1950
NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: mwilhelm**At_Symbol_Here**umich.edu

On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 10:23 AM Reinhardt, Peter
wrote:
>
> I just want to add:
>
> Posters are valuable because they set norms. When visitors or newbies arrive, they see what is important to the lab/institution.
>
> One might become skeptical about the value of a poster because nearly everyone ignores them (and no longer notices them) after passing them twice. This is true. People habituate quickly to the poster's message, just as you forget that speed limit sign you pass every day.
>
> So the other value in setting norms, is as a reminder for the instructor or lab worker, who can point to even the dustiest yellowed, curled poster on the wall and remind his college, "No eating or drinking in the lab." That works.
>
> To avoid the habituation problem, changing the message or the media help. Think Coca-Cola.
>
> Pete
>
> •ÈÀOn 2/4/21, 6:20 PM, "ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety on behalf of Stuart, Ralph" wrote:
>
> >make sure you have lots of cool posters on the wall (that interest undergrads - think pictures not words),
>
> I have found that these posters are also very helpful for safety professionals who are interested in understanding why the research community needs to use X chemical in a way that the people who wrote regulations impacting that chemical never thought of. We also appreciate pictures; words can be picked up in conversations the posters start...
>
> - Ralph
>
> Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
> Environmental Safety Manager
> Keene State College
> 603 358-2859
>
> ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu
>
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