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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Hats in lab
Date: Sep 2, 2022 20:30 UTC
Author: Ralph Stuart <ralph**At_Symbol_Here**RSTUARTCIH.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] How Dangerous Is Too Dangerous? A Perspective on Azide Chemistry
Date: Sep 3, 2022 11:38 UTC
Author: Ralph Stuart <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
From: lhlatimer**At_Symbol_Here**mindspring.com
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Hats in lab
Date: Sep 2, 2022 22:42 UTC
Reply-To: lhlatimer**At_Symbol_Here**mindspring.com
Message-ID: <d360e9d6-9159-837b-7cac-e5ba6d96adb4**At_Symbol_Here**mindspring.com>
In-Reply-To:
Cheers to Ralph for noting that neckties are the same as scarves, etc. and need to be restrained. All professionals at my first position in research for the company were expected to wear ties wherever up until 3 months before I started in 1979. The engineers in the plant continued the practice as sort of a status symbol: t-shirts made appearances in research.
At my last position, where I wrote the safety manual, the lab safety manual required long hair to be restrained such that it stayed either inside the lab coat or on the back or inside a labsafe headgear. The length where this became an issue was defined as shoulder-length. We had no pushback, unlike the restriction on open toed and open backed shoes. While a very multicultural company, we did not encounter the religious headgear issue or the ballcap one,
The hair and scarf restrictions should be absolute. I know of two incidents where individuals died from their hair being caught in machinery. I know of one incident where long hair trapping bits of sodium from an eruption (different issue) leading to an extended hospitalization. One incident is too many when it is easily preventable.
Great discussion,
Lee
> >And also: yes, you should treat baseball caps, cowboy hats, beanies, and all non-PPE hats the same. They don't need to be in the lab (and yes, I would say that to a CEO or CSO, too).
That reminds me of a story an EHS colleague told me about a visit from President of the United States to one of the labs at their institution for a photo op. The EHS professional had tried to impress on the Univiersity’s organizer of the visit the importance of eye protection in the lab for Everyone and the response was “no way” were the visitor be required to do that.
POTUS asked for lab glasses before entering the lab and received them. (Perhaps someone one his staff thought that they were a good idea.) Anyway, sometimes leadership has to step up to the plate on safety issues; sometimes that involves high end visitors; other times it falls to a first year graduate student who happens to be a TA.
Perhaps the community can assist with this by further developing the idea of “peer-keeping” described at
https://cen.acs.org/safety/lab-safety/Reactions-Peer-keeping-should-accompany/100/i19
"Safety peer keeping, often an awkward and challenging process, can stop a near miss from turning into a serious potential injury or life-threatening incident. Peer keeping is the process of attentively observing and tactfully responding to an action or condition that can impact one’s safety or the safety of coworkers."
FWIW, I have a similar concern to the one raised about cowboy hats to neckties in laboratories. I’m old enough to have been around in the days when they were de rigeur for male faculty and remember stained neckties various faculty keptin their offices to switch into for their next visit to the lab...
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
ralph**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org
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