Lab safety education: All shifts, all the time

The relationship between the lab safety officer and laboratory management has long been a complicated one. Some safety officers face a negative perception of being a safety cop. In addition, they must juggle responsibilities to improve overall safety conditions as well as train employees to keep up with new safety standards—all with limited resources.

 

One of the big hurdles is that supervisors are not taught how safety factors into their jobs. Dave Amos, senior occupational safety and health consultant for the National Safety Council says, “Safety is an integral part of everyone’s job description and the old mindset that safety is someone else’s responsibility must stop.” He further goes on to say, “Quit blaming a person and fix the system—if the system doesn’t look like a big piece of Swiss cheese, then people won’t fall through holes.” It is not enough to have a safety committee with minutes to show the accreditation inspectors when they come to call. You need to change the culture of the workplace to embrace safety initiatives all of the time by every person.

 

How do you do this? Education, all of the time, on all shifts, for all of the lab employees. In-person training is best, but it’s not always possible. The next best thing is video training so that the message you send stays the same for all employees. Remember, safety is not just a topic, it is a way of life.