Welcome to the Committee on Chemical Safety’s website.
Today is a great time to be a chemist, and it’s also a great time for those who care about safety! Safety is in the limelight due to recent laboratory incidents, and this presents an opportunity for all of us to renew and strengthen our efforts in preventing incidents in academic laboratories.
In June 2011 in response to increasing concerns about safety in academic laboratories, the Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS) established the Safety Culture Task Force to identify ways to assist our academic colleagues in strengthening their safety cultures. The Task Force is preparing a publication with the essential elements for a strong safety culture and with recommendations on how an academic institution might achieve this.
During the August 2011 American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Denver, CO, ACS President Dr. Nancy Jackson held the first-ever open forum about the safety culture in academia. Many Council members shared their support and vision for ACS involvement in strengthening safety awareness and education in academic laboratories.
In October 2011 the U.S. Chemical Safety and Investigation Board, also known as the Chemical Safety Board, issued a report on its first investigation of a laboratory explosion at an academic institution. The Board asked ACS to take the lead in developing a risk assessment tool for use by researchers working in academic laboratories.
This renewed interest in safety can be a stepping stone toward preventing incidents by improving the safety culture in academia. Safety professionals and their academic colleagues need to work closely together to find creative new ways to teach safety so that students acquire the broad knowledge they need to work safely in laboratories while building positive attitudes toward safety. Investing more in teaching safety will help undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows better learn how to conduct laboratory research safely.
CCS has a primary responsibility to encourage safe practices in chemical activities. The Committee serves as a resource to advice for the safe handling of chemicals, to encourage education in safe chemical practices, and to promote safe facilities, designs, and operations. We look forward to supporting and working with our fellow chemists as they look for ways to improve safety in academic laboratories.
If you know about really great safety programs or unique approaches that are building strong safety skills in our future chemists, we want to know about them. We welcome your opinions about preventing incidents and improving safety—please share your thoughts with us at: safety@acs.org
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