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Table of Content
- Chair's Welcome
- Annual Review of Chemical Hygiene Plan
- Upcoming Workshops
- CHAS Presentations for Local Sections
- ACS National Meeting: Call for Symposia for Spring 2024 in New Orleans
- 2023 Spring ACS Meeting Councilor's Report
- CHASwear from Lands' End
- Volunteer Positions
- Award Winners 2023
- ACS Speaker Directory
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Chair’s Welcome
The State of CHAS
The Division of Chemical Health and Safety welcomes those experienced in safety as well as those just beginning their safety education.
CHAS has made major strides in reaching out to early-career chemical professionals interested in chemical health & safety. Our student-run peer-led workshops on safety culture and laboratory safety teams have been very successful, not only in educating students but in developing future leaders for the Division.
Our collaborations with the ACS Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS) and the staff-led ACS Safety Programs are bearing fruit. CHAS members routinely serve on CCS, providing their expertise to the Board of Directors and the Council, while grants from Safety Programs have promoted the development of the peer-led workshops.
Financially, the Division is in excellent condition, with adequate reserves to maintain it as a going concern. Organizationally, we continue to have a robust core group of volunteers, but more are always needed. We have a variety of volunteer opportunities at various levels of skill and commitment—see the list on the CHAS webpage for details.
CHAS is unusual among ACS Divisions in that our expertise is most valuable in collaboration with the chemical professional at the bench. The Division is reaching out to other ACS Divisions to identify opportunities to incorporate safety into their programs. I encourage individual CHAS members to reach out to their local bench chemists and chemical engineers also.
Best regards,
Dr. Dan Kuespert, CSP, CHAS Chair 2023
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Annual Review of Chemical Hygiene Plan
(by Shannon Nephew)
OSHA’s Lab Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1450, requires that employers engaged in laboratory use of hazardous chemicals have a Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP). According to OSHA, “the employer must review and evaluate the effectiveness of the CHP at least annually.”
This annual review of the CHP is an essential component of a lab safety plan and should be a collaborative effort. An annual review of the Chemical Hygiene Plan by a safety professional is good practice, but it is also useful to include reviews from multiple departments that are covered by the plan. The Chemical Hygiene Plan covers all employees who use or are exposed to hazardous chemicals or processes in the workplace. Non-lab employees and visitors to the lab should also be educated in the precepts of this plan, although they are not strictly covered under the OSHA HazCom requirements.
Tips for reviewing the CHP annually:
- Review hyperlinks-fix broken links, and verify that the links still exist and are relevant. Update accordingly.
- Review and update titles of staff and relevant vendors as needed.
- Verify that directions and the instructions regarding whom to report to or whom to contact in an emergency are still valid.
- Verify that policies and regulations contained therein have not changed and adjust as needed.
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Upcoming events/workshops
(M. Nyansa and B. Bresnahan)
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Upcoming events/workshops
The next ACS CHAS Empowering Academic Researchers to Strengthen Safety Culture Workshop is being held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 in-person at the ACS Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM) 2023!
If you register for NERM 2023, sign up for the workshop during conference registration for a discounted fee of $5 for students and $20 for faculty, staff and safety professionals.
If you do not intend to register for NERM 2023, you can still register for and attend the workshop by following this link for more information and to register: https://LSTWorkshopJune2023.eventbrite.com
Participants will receive a certificate of participation to add to their resume or portfolio upon completion of the workshop. Registration is due on Friday, June 12th, 2023. https://LSTWorkshopJune2023.eventbrite.com
Light lunch will be provided.
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Need a Local Section Presentation?
Attention local section leaders
Are you interested in a short presentation on CHAS for an upcoming local section meeting this year? Email our members-at-large (Kendra Denlinger at denlingerk**At_Symbol_Here**xavier.edu and Shannon Nephew at millersc**At_Symbol_Here**plattsburgh.edu) to schedule an in-person or Zoom presentation to introduce your members to CHAS and our resources!
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ACS National Meeting
Call for Symposia for Spring 2024 in New Orleans
Please consider organizing a symposium for the Spring 2024 meeting in New Orleans. The theme of the meeting is Many Flavors of Chemistry. I'm certain whatever you're interested in, the membership will be interested in, too. I'll need a catchy title and a sentence or two descriptors. Questions? Feel free: debbie.m.decker**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com
2023 Spring ACS Meeting Councilor's Report
You find the detailed 2023 spring ACS meeting councilor's report here. The report is a useful summary of the actions of the many national ACS committees and is a useful way to gain insights into the inner workings of ACS. |
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CHASwear from Lands' End
(S. Sigmann)
If you are attending a spring, fall, or regional ACS meeting or participating in Local Section activities, make sure that you show your support for the division by wearing clothing displaying our division logo. Lands' End Business has a full selection of professional clothing and will apply the CHAS logo for a small fee. For more information visit the Lands' End CHAS site at https://business.landsend.com/store/chas/ |
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Volunteer Positions
(contact Dan Kuespert, CHAS Chair-Elect, dkuespert**At_Symbol_Here**pm.me)
Membership Committee
- Welcome Email Manager: The Welcome Email Manager emails new members with a welcome to CHAS and pointers to resources and volunteer opportunities; they also serve as initial point of contact for further new-member questions; and they seek volunteers from among the new members. Time commitment: 1 hr/wk.
Program Committee
- Symposium/program organizers: Organizers recruit speakers for and/or preside over sessions or panels. Time commitment variable pre-session but normally on the order of 3-5 hours total/session.
- Symposium/program ideators: Ideators come up with ideas for programming—symposia, panels, collaborative programming with other Divisions and Society Committees—and work with Members-at-Large to generate program ideas that match meeting themes where possible. Time commitment depends on how many ideas you have.
- Annual Meeting Chair: The Annual Meeting Chair (there is one for each meeting) is responsible for overall decisions on which symposia to offer, managing session scheduling, and (with the help of the Program Chair) working with ACS Meetings & Exhibitions staff to ensure that rooms are reserved, equipment is ordered, and other little details are ironed out. Time commitment varies from nearly nothing at the beginning to slightly frenetic during deadline periods and at meetings.
- Deputy Program Chair: Learn the ropes about Program management, scheduling, etc. and assist the Program Chair. Time commitment depends on how deep you wade into the details of programming.
Web Presence Committee
- Content creators/reposters: Content creators/reposters generate new CHAS-related content for social media, the CHAS website, and other publications; they also identify non-CHAS information of interest to the members so that the content or links to it can be reposted. Time commitment: Variable.
Other Ways to Volunteer
- Session speakers: Not surprisingly, a speaker gives a presentation or makes a panel discussion appearance at a CHAS session; program organizers will help with arrangements and other necessary items so that you can concentrate on your content. Time commitment depends on your topic, presentation skills, and how picky you are that your presentation be perfect! (Report to symposium/program organizer.)
- Workshop presenter: CHAS presents a variety of technical workshops directed at either seasoned EHS professionals or early-career members. The Education Committee is always looking for new workshop ideas, particularly for the professional workshops. Workshop ideas for the early-career (“peer-led”) programs or those which would appeal to other technical divisions’ membership are also very welcome.
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Award Winners 2023
It is with great pleasure that the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety announce the following award winners for 2023.
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Russ Phifer, WC Environmental
CHAS Graduate Student Safety Leadership Award:
Monica Nyansa, Michigan Technological University
Howard Fawcett Award:
PubChem Team, National Center for Biotechnology Information
Tillmanns-Skolnik Award:
Kali Miller, ERM
CHAS Fellows:
• Kali Miller
• Monique Wilhelm
• Kimi Brown
All four abstracts have been submitted for Fall ACS National Meeting
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The Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) is proud to partner with ACS President-Elect, Judy Giordan to provide ACS local section leaders with access to a wide range of speakers for their in-person, virtual, hybrid, and asynchronous events. As Judy noted in her C&EN Comment, the aim of the virtual Speaker Service is to support all local sections with cost-effective and easy access to a diverse group of global speakers who want to share their expertise and passion for chemistry on a wide variety of topics.
Are you interested in signing up to be a speaker? Register today!
ACS online catalog. A collection of the various ACS units working with safety programming and the audience they serve. https://axial.acs.org/rampupsafety/
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