What Can Taylor Swift Teach Us About Lab Safety?
Photo: Still from "Teardrops on My Guitar" Taylor Swift © 2007 Big Machine Records It’s hard to believe it’s been 17 years since Taylor Swift released the hit single “Teardrops on My Guitar” when she was just 18. Based on the real-life story of Swift’s high school...
Managing Methylene Chloride – Requirements of the TSCA Final Rule
The recent implementation of the TSCA final rule regarding methylene chloride has introduced significant changes in how this chemical is managed in laboratory environments. For professionals and educators alike, understanding and adhering to these new regulations is...
Aligning Safety Culture Through Storytelling
One night during my Ph.D. work, I found myself in a self-imposed, potentially dangerous situation that underscores the importance of safety awareness in the lab. I was alone, working late with a perchlorate salt—a highly reactive, shock-sensitive substance. As I...
The Importance of Safer Science: Acceptable Risks and Sustainability
The excitement of discovery, of boldly going where no one has gone before, is what attracted me to the sciences many years ago. Since then, decades of research in different settings has proven that adventure always comes with risk. Probing the limits of the known...
LSI Names New Executive Director
On March 6, Stephen Taylor dropped this teaser in his LinkedIn feed: “It’s in these quiet moments that we find clarity for our #NewBeginnings and sometimes we find those new beginnings in the most unlikely of places. While I’m not ready to unveil what’s next just yet,...
The Illusion of Caution: How ‘Being Careful’ Undermines Safety
“I’ve had kids for 15 years now, giving me plenty of time to reflect on what it means to tell someone to ‘be careful,’” says Tim Barton, chief safety officer at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. “My conclusion is that this phrase is almost too...
Is Weekly Eyewash/Safety Shower Activation Required?
Activating a single eyewash station doesn’t take long, but at a sprawling research facility with as many as 2,000 units dotting its campus, activating and testing them all can be a major undertaking. Lab personnel may be relieved to know OSHA simply requires eyewash...
Get Out of My Lab: Five Safety Violations That Should Get People Banned
What are the most important safety rules? We're not talking about your wish list of safety protocols that it would be nice if people followed, but the absolute non-negotiable safety fundamentals. What safety rules do you feel so strongly about that if someone refused...
How To Make Your Lab More Dangerous
In his 2003 biography, billionaire investor Charlie Munger revealed his favorite hack for finding out-of-the-box solutions: “Turn a situation or problem upside-down. Look at it backward,” he said. “Where don’t we want to go, and how do you get there?” Applying...
The Sticky Issue of Cell Phones in the Lab
On average, Americans check their phones within 10 minutes of waking up, and continue checking them about 344 times per day, or once every 2.8 minutes during waking hours. That means most of us touch our cell phones more than any other object in our lives. All that...