Re: Toxicologist and Course on Chemical Safety

The Handbook of Laboratory Health and Safety authored by R. Scott Stricoff
and Douglas B. Walters provides succinct guidance regarding the topic, and
I rely on it as a useful ready reference book combining all core aspects
of Laboratory Safety. It is encouraging to see this sort of initiative,
where Chemists can obtain awareness about HSE prior to entering the work
force.

I have found over the years that many of the technical elements of HSE,
such as IH, Toxicology, and Engineering/Construction standards, are
aspects that  Chemists often do not directly address during the course of
his or her work. There is however, a need for Chemists to understand how
exposures occur, how they are controlled, what classical safety measures
should be employed to prevent catastrophic incidents, where the
responsibilities lie to ensure that safe work practices are maintained,
and what steps are traditionally used for prevention.

I have rarely perceived great value for the Chemist when it comes to in
depth regulatory knowledge, but rather have found the bigger pay-off comes
when requirements are translated into key criteria for operational
excellence. This often means identifying critical improvement areas
through systematic self-auditing activities and evaluations of lab
specific operations using risk analysis methods. It may be useful to use
examples of auditing processes and risk analysis techniques during your
training to enhance the students ability to think through their own
solutions, as they will inevitably be faced with limited HSE resources and
have to determine the most viable options to address HSE concerns on their
own.

Al Muehlhausen
Novartis/CIBA Vision
Corporate R&D Health, Safety, and Environmental Officer
Chemist, CHO



Donald Rosenthal 
Sent by: DCHAS-L Discussion List 
01/29/2004 09:49 AM
Please respond to Donald Rosenthal

        To:     DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
        cc:
        Subject:        Re: [DCHAS-L] Toxicologist and Course on Chemical Safety

The Intercollegiate Course - "Chemical Safety:
Protecting Ourselves and the Environment"
evolved as a result of an online CONFCHEM conference organized
by George Wahl, Jr.:
"Teaching Safety in High Schools, Colleges, and Universities"
<http:​//www.ched-ccce.org/confchem/2002/c/>

In some of the online discussion (on and after November 19)
the possibility of offering a Chemical Safety course was
discussed and the course as presently described on the
course website was developed.
(see Food for thought

One of the reasons for offering the course is that many
employers (in industry and government) have found college
and university chemistry students not adequately prepared
to cope with and understand safety issues.  The proposed
course has been designed to help better prepare undergraduate
students in diverse areas of chemical safety.  One course can
not hope to cover every aspect of safety.  The "Course Contents"
section of the course website provides an outline of some of
the topics which will be covered.

If toxicologists wish to be involved in offering the course
to undergraduates at their colleges and universities, we
welcome their participation.

I am not certain I understand the comments of John Keller
and Doug Walters.  Are you saying the course would be
better if there were a toxocologist involved?
Why is this necessarily so?

Would the course be better if there were a physician, fireman,
university safety officer, or rescue squad person involved?

There is a classroom as well as an online component to this
course and individual instructors could invite guest lecturers.

We welcome receiving SPECIFIC comments and suggestions about
the course.

Donald Rosenthal
Department of Chemistry
Clarkson University
Potsdam NY 13699-5810

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> Subject: RE: Toxocology and Course on Chemical Safety
> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:04:47 -0500
> From: "Doug Walters" 
> To: "Donald Rosenthal" ,
>     
> CC: 

> I think John Keller makes a very good point, which should
> be considered in the future if it is too late now.
> Doug Walters

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>> Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Intercollegiate Course on Chemical Safety
>> Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 18:16:00 -0500
>> From: "toxicol" 
>> To: "Donald Rosenthal" 

>> Who are the toxicologists involved in the teaching?

>> John Keller

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