Demystify: 

> The end result, as you said, is a culture that isn't providing the best support to workers, but one that does provide institutions with the predictability that they need. I'm sure there are ways to meet both sets of needs, but beyond communications strategies designed to combat the perception that the institution doesn't care, it's not obvious to me what those are.
>
I agree that it is a significant challenge to balance the institutional and individual needs, particularly on issues with little technical risk information and high emotional stakes, such as pregnancy. That is why I was heartened to see that the Nature comment 'conclude(s) that community is critical to improve experiences'. I think that this need to support community building is part of the reason for the interest in safety culture in general and in higher education in particular.

People who are interested in discussing opportunities and challenges of the the community building approach may be interested in one or both of the peer led workshops the Division is organizing this month and next:

Building a Safety Culture in Your Lab
A proactive laboratory safety culture is the key to a safer laboratory. This workshop will explore what this means and provide concrete tools you can use to support a safety culture in your lab. Register here for this workshop to be held Saturday, February 26.

Empowering Researchers to Strengthen Safety Culture
Also known as the Lab Safety Teams workshop, taught by chemistry graduate students with experience with implementing and maintaining laboratory safety programs at their home institution. This workshop will next be offered Sunday, March 20, 2022; you can register for it here.

Both of these workshops are peer led and designed to include lots of interactive discussion between the workshop leaders and the attendees.

More information and registration links can be found at
http://dchas.org/2022/02/01/workshops2022/

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
ralph**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org

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