DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:36:28 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: "L. Scott Williams" <lscott**At_Symbol_Here**FRONTIERSCI.COM>
Subject: The accident at Yale.
Hi all,
From a behavior stand point, it's great to see the discussion taking place
over the accident/fatality at Yale.
Does anyone have the data on root cause of the Yale accident yet? I'd sure
love to see it!
Neal Langerman, our 'guru' for chem safety asked the right question when
he asked what a student was doing in a shop/lab alone at 0230 am?
All rhetoric aside, as you well know OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910.1450
E. Basic Rules and Procedures for Working with Chemicals states: "(q)
Working alone:
Avoid working alone in a building; do not work alone in a laboratory
if the procedures being conducted are hazardous".
This is a great time to assess our own labs and school areas to decide if ou
r
lab sop is strong enough to prevent what happened at Yale! I know ours
at Frontier Scientific is adequate at best. I plan to get my safety
committee together next month and come up with ways to strengthen our
policy. We have a great accident response plan; complete with company
owners that represent the patient at the hospital and do press
interviews.
What would it be like if all faculty had to pass mandatory safety
training particular to their specialty otherwise no tenure or
promotion? What would it be like if all students in any science could
not get into that college without safety course that was directly
related to the tasks in their major? Here's one that's "off the wall".
What if the SAT/ACT had a safety section similar to reading
comprehension or writing skills? Now there's a culture-behavior changer!
Happy Safety!
Love to All!
L.Scott Williams
Frontier Scientific Safety Department
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