UC Center for Laboratory Safety workshop attracts academics and researchers worldwide
The University of California Center for Laboratory Safety is hosting its first ever workshop on lab safety Thursday and Friday, attracting academics, industry researchers and government regulators from across the nation and the world to look at new and more effective ways to make certain that research is performed safely.
"It's really important that we recognize there are hazards that can cause serious injury and death and that we look at ways that we can improve lab safety," said James Gibson, the center's executive director and director of UCLA's Office of Environment, Health and Safety.
With breakout sessions focused on safety culture, hazard assessment and safety and compliance strategies, the two-day workshop at the Beckman Center of the National Academy of Sciences in Irvine is designed to help participants identify potential problems and develop implementation plans.
The workshop includes 70 participants representing the National Institutes of Health, Princeton University and Dow Corning, to name a few, and some from as far away as the Netherlands.
"It's fairly unusual to have people from so many different backgrounds, from so many different disciplines and different perspectives, which makes this workshop pretty unique," said Nancy Wayne, UCLA's associate vice chancellor for research-lab safety and chair of the center's advisory board. "What interests all of us is a shared interest in improving lab safety, really in a way that will be embraced ... by those who supervise and perform lab research."
The workshop is aimed at approaching lab safety from a scientific perspective.
"There is a lack of research in the area of lab safety," Wayne said. "We've been digging through the literature and it really is sorely lacking in evidence-based lab safety regulations. These regulations are often based on someone's idea of common sense rather than empirically derived data."
In his welcoming remarks, UCLA Vice Chancellor for Research James Economou recalled Chancellor Gene Block interviewing him for the position two years ago and stressing the importance of lab safety to UCLA.
"This Center for Laboratory Safety that is funded by Chancellor Block and the University of California is just another quantum step upward in creating a mechanism that will support research on lab safety practices that will yield information and improve understanding to develop best practices and then also analyze outcomes," Economou said.
The center was established last year with the mission of improving the practice of laboratory safety through the performance of scientific research and implementation of best safety practices. Since then, other universities and researchers have been turning to the center for assistance in establishing lab safety programs of their own.
"It's really important that we recognize there are hazards that can cause serious injury and death and that we look at ways that we can improve lab safety," said James Gibson, the center's executive director and director of UCLA's Office of Environment, Health and Safety.
With breakout sessions focused on safety culture, hazard assessment and safety and compliance strategies, the two-day workshop at the Beckman Center of the National Academy of Sciences in Irvine is designed to help participants identify potential problems and develop implementation plans.
The workshop includes 70 participants representing the National Institutes of Health, Princeton University and Dow Corning, to name a few, and some from as far away as the Netherlands.
"It's fairly unusual to have people from so many different backgrounds, from so many different disciplines and different perspectives, which makes this workshop pretty unique," said Nancy Wayne, UCLA's associate vice chancellor for research-lab safety and chair of the center's advisory board. "What interests all of us is a shared interest in improving lab safety, really in a way that will be embraced ... by those who supervise and perform lab research."
The workshop is aimed at approaching lab safety from a scientific perspective.
"There is a lack of research in the area of lab safety," Wayne said. "We've been digging through the literature and it really is sorely lacking in evidence-based lab safety regulations. These regulations are often based on someone's idea of common sense rather than empirically derived data."
In his welcoming remarks, UCLA Vice Chancellor for Research James Economou recalled Chancellor Gene Block interviewing him for the position two years ago and stressing the importance of lab safety to UCLA.
"This Center for Laboratory Safety that is funded by Chancellor Block and the University of California is just another quantum step upward in creating a mechanism that will support research on lab safety practices that will yield information and improve understanding to develop best practices and then also analyze outcomes," Economou said.
The center was established last year with the mission of improving the practice of laboratory safety through the performance of scientific research and implementation of best safety practices. Since then, other universities and researchers have been turning to the center for assistance in establishing lab safety programs of their own.
In the past few years, UCLA has dramatically enhanced its own lab safety programs, increasing the number of inspections in its labs, strengthening the university's policy on the required use of personal protective equipment and developing a hazard assessment tool that labs must update annually or whenever conditions change.