About the Laboratory Safety Institute
The Laboratory Safety Institute is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to empowering people to practice safer science worldwide, envisioning a world where safety is intrinsic to education, work and life. Over the past 45 years, LSI has educated over 100,000 scientists and lab personnel in 30 countries, spanning 130 industries. Our workshops and seminars go beyond regulatory compliance, opening eyes with real-life stories to build an enduring organizational culture of safety.
Virtually any lab, anywhere can benefit from our safety courses. which are regularly held in select cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. We also offer live webinars and virtual courses.
Demo Reel
Watch as LSI's founder, Dr. Jim Kaufman, riffs on some major lab safety incidents that resulted in lawsuits in the topic "legal aspects":
How the Laboratory Safety Institute Began

Laboratory fire: charred remains
The Laboratory Safety Institute was founded by James Kaufman, Ph.D. While driving home from work in 1973, he heard on the radio that there had been a serious explosion at nearby Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Kaufman had recently completed postdoctoral work at Worcester Polytechnic, and had earned his Ph.D. there a few years before. Upon hearing the news of the accident, he bypassed his house, driving straight to the Worcester lab instead.
"I got there two hours after the explosion," Kaufman remembers. "The light fixtures had been blown off the ceiling, the windows had been blown out of the room. A grad student I knew blew off portions of his hands, and he was lucky he wasn't killed."
This experience is part of what propelled him to found the Laboratory Safety Institute in 1978. Today, LSI has grown to become an international center for health, safety and the environment.
Lab Safety Courses
We will come to you! Find out about hosting or sponsoring a class, or see when we are next scheduled to visit a city near you.
The Laboratory Safety Institute
Phone: 508-647-1900
Fax: 508-647-0062
Email: info@labsafetyinstitute.org
There is more to lab safety than just labs. Our lives are filled with hazards. When we teach, learn, and practice science safely, students and employees:
- Learn to care about their health and safety
- Learn to identify life's hazards and how to protect themselves
- Create a safer and healthier learning and working environment
- Live safer, healthier, longer lives