The ҹɫÊÓƵ’s Environmental Health & Safety unit, within the Research & Innovation division, has recently updated the biosafety module in its hands-on laboratory safety training course.
These changes come as a response to feedback from research faculty and aim to increase learners’ understanding of how and why safety concerns arise, thus allowing them to better anticipate accidents and prevent them.
“The expanded training really makes an effort to cover more of these incident response measures so that the laboratorians are prepared not just to prevent accidents, but to respond appropriately if something does occur,” Keith Kikawa, the University’s laboratory safety manager, said.
The redesigned module has been expanded from a single 12-minute station to a 45-minute section divided into three distinct stations. Each of these stations cover subjects like the use of engineering controls, contamination control, spill cleanup and practice with EH&S resources.
The Environmental Health & Safety training team hopes these changes will increase overall understanding of the risks involved with lab work and give individuals the tools needed to prevent and solve these problems.
“The real goal here is building a culture of lab safety here on the ҹɫÊÓƵ's campus,” Kikawa said.
The updated content contains demonstrations and discussions on the hierarchy of risk/hazard prevention controls. This includes discussions on the limits of personal protective equipment (PPE) and when the use of engineering and administrative controls is appropriate or better suited for a task.
Along with the limits of PPE, the new content also covers specific topics pertaining to when PPE should and should not be used, addressing problems such as the wearing of gloves in and out of lab spaces, which runs the risk of bringing in outside contaminants.
“We want to make sure we address some of those concerns from real-world issues that people are having so we can make sure their students show up prepared,” Don Massie, training safety manager at EH&S, said.
Among the changes directly related to faculty requests, there are also added details such as centrifuge safety, spill cleanup, proper glove removal, aerosol risks, accident response and practice using pathogen data sheets.
Updates to the biological spill cleanup material also include more nuance pertaining to spill location, and how one’s approach to cleanup will differ.
By creating modules that address these subjects in further detail, EH&S strives to alleviate concerns about small mistakes with larger consequences. Overall, these courses empower individuals with the knowledge required to create a safe research environment.
In addition to the updated training course, EH&S welcomes new faculty to the team. Andy Martin is the University’s new senior laboratory safety specialist and Luke Franklin is the new environmental affairs manager.
The team will lead efforts in observing International Biosafety and Biosecurity Awareness Month in October.
Research & Innovation is continually working on initiatives to recognize the efforts of faculty in their commitment to creating a safe learning and discovery environment. Established in 2021, the University annually honors a faculty-led research team with the Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award. Learn more about the award criteria and eligibility, and view a list of previous award recipients.
For more information and to sign up for a course, visit the training and resources web page, or contact a member of the EH&S team with any questions or concerns.
