> >Submitting incidents to a lessons learned site, even an internal one, can be problematic for some institutions.
In my opinion, this is the biggest challenge we face in developing a safety culture in the laboratory environment. In my experience with the situations I have lived through, I found that it takes a lot of discipline to take a breath after an unexpected event and say â??What can we learn from this surprise?â??, rather than trying to move on as quickly as possible to a stopgap solution.
I know of several situations that were aggravated by people not wanting to share their experiences due to an unknown response from others. Sometimes I think that the motto of a safety culture should be â??No lessons learned lost!â?? That might enable people who develop and share their experiences to be seen as heroes rather than embarrassed about the event. I have had two or three experiences where the PI treated the situation in a constructive way and the lasting cultural impacts were impressive.
- 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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