Guest Post From Arran Solomonsz, Ph.D.—What I Wish I Knew
Flammable solvents and hot oil was always a combination that honestly scared me, but that was how I had been taught to perform reactions. As a keen cook, I knew never to put a hot pan of oil near water, yet in my former life as a chemist, that is precisely what I did...
Lessons from Tesla: What Lab Disasters Cost Science
“I am in too much grief to talk. What can I say? The work of half my lifetime, very nearly all my mechanical instruments and scientific apparatus, that it has taken years to perfect, swept away in a fire that lasted only an hour or two. How can I estimate the loss in...
No Safety in Numbers: Does Vision Zero Safety Work in a COVID World?
"This is a zero-accident workplace." "Vision zero." "Our aim: no accidents." Safety-speak is full of zero-based slogans. We like zero, at least as an aspirational vision, because non-zero statements seem unconscionable. “Our goal is to kill only one or two people this...
Hazard Pictograms: Danger in the Eyes of the Beholder
Although the containers were clearly labeled “do not use for food,” and the product was dyed orange-pink as an additional danger flag, sadly, seed grain treated with methylmercury fungicide still made it onto the dinner tables of thousands of people. The official...
Doughnuts, Pizza, and Free Beer: What Vaccine Incentives Say About Safety
At one time, I thought that not dying was incentive enough to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Evidently, I was wrong. Dozens of states are offering sweepstakes worth millions of dollars for anyone who gets vaccinated. A stick in the arm can also get you Krispy Kreme...
Cannabis Lab Explosion Kills Two: A Wake-up Call for a Fast-Growing Industry
Two workers died in a chemical explosion at a cannabis lab in Italy on May 7, raising questions about how to maintain high safety standards within a rapidly expanding industry. Samuel Cuffaro, 19, and Elisabetta D’Innocenti, 52, have become the latest additions to the...
How Not To Be a Lab Safety Cop
Those who make a career in safety have two basic choices: Be a transformational leader who builds organizational culture in which health, safety and the environment are an integral and important part of life for everyone. Be that person with a clipboard, always on the...
PPE and COVID-19: Seriously, Is It That Hard to Wear a Mask?
As COVID-19 brought masks into everyone's life, PPE became a national issue and videos of anti-maskers’ meltdowns have gone viral. Fights have spilled into the street and turned violent, and last May, a security guard at a Michigan dollar store was shot and killed...
COVID-19 Precautions—Have We Gone Too Far?
Someone is coming up the stairs toward me. Even though we’re both wearing masks, I hold my breath, do-si-do sideways and squeeze past him while being careful to avoid contact with the railing. Am I a little paranoid? Perhaps. Or maybe COVID-19 is pushing us all closer...
Blind Spots: Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Lab
No matter how good a detective you are, there are some things you simply can't see (with the unaided eye), such as: Bacteria Your forehead Your chin (unless you're this guy) Actually, life is full of blind spots, once you start looking for them. For starters, everyone...