For people who are working in the chemical process business, there is always the question of adequate information for the safe conduct of a process. How does one fold new process safety details into an organizational structure so as to gain the greatest benefit?
One method is to simply issue memos and rely on management SOP’s for enforcement. This kind of passive distribution of information must compete with all the other channels of information flowing into the brains of coworkers. Memos that are badly written or bursting with details are sure to be poorly absorbed. Eventually, people cannot reliably digest additional information on top of an already complex task.
The word that always comes up is “communication”. True enough, but too often communication comes in the form of training which consists of a PowerPoint recitation to a passive audience. This is not training- it is a briefing.
Communication often manifests as a memo or as a new folder on some disk drive. Again, this is a passive form of communication that does not necessarily engage the recipient.
I think that effective safety communication requires “management by walking around”. If safety information arises that is critical, then what better way than to walk around and collect disciples of safety? Mobility and strength of personality can be far more effective than even the best memo, SOP, or policy.
Much of specialized expertise resolves to a finite number of rules and specialized awareness on top of a foundation of more generic knowledge. Specialized expertise may be difficult to acquire, but in practice it is of finite scope. An engaging and ebullient manager can help people absorb complex information by breaking it down into a hierarchy of pieces and rules. The practice of filing information into a folder and relying on people to go out and look for it is a poor substitute for active engagement.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
YES! This is simple but brilliant. The folder (with time, 20 volumes of it) is there to answer to lawyers, I guess, because I have never seen anybody consult it in 40 years.
Safety rises upward rather than is imposed downward. Ask the folks who do the work how things screw up, how to prevent it, and how to deal with it when it happens. Ask the foremen, ask the union reps. That is your foundation.
Uncle Al worked in a place that hydraulically assembled three-piece molds for hot compression forming. The assembler was a closed box. The operator placed the parts, withdrew his hands, and simultaneously pressed two wide-spaced buttons. A thick polycarb shield descended, then, if all was AND good with the safety switches, a hydraulic plunger did its thing.
The newly trained worker sat down as management clustered about. Yada yada; the safety shield vigorosly descended and skidded is square cut bottom down the bridge of his nose. Messy. Softu rubber safety bumper was added, and the paired buttons were more closely spaced so he could lean back. Developers were tall and long-armed. Workers had a different somatic ethnic profile that could not be mentioned.
Chemists exist in a macho culture that applauds death defying acts. You need to get people practicing safety on a monthly basis. That includes having people strip bare naked (at least once)while they run to a shower. Safety has to come from the top down and be constantly reinforced.
Too many chemists pick up bad habits in academia. Most Professors (and universities) really could care less about their students safety. They get one 45 min refresher per year. It’s bullshit, but the young folk don’t know any better.
You should study what happened with that UCLA fatality that occurred recently. People need to be able to instinctively run to the shower or the right areas in the case of a gas release. Maybe blindfold them and have them find it (possibly while half naked).
Ok enough on the nakedness….
@ Mike,
As an academician I take umbrage to your insinuation that we do not care about the safety of our students. What happened at UCLA is indeed a tragedy, but to think that this did not bother her advisor or the university is completely idiotic. Perhaps you think that we should have 2 hour safety meetings every four days to hold hands and tell each other what scares us, but personally I don’t think I need to play patty-cake with my students everyday just to make sure they are safe. Chemistry is DANGEROUS and no amount of training will prevent every accident. People tend to panic in times of extreme stress and do things that they would otherwise not even consider doing. Does that mean it is the fault of the PI (or university) or is it time that people grow up and accept responsibility for themselves? Maybe you think that we should only run reactions using water and food coloring with perhaps some dry ice in there for effect, but that would not be very productive, would it. I’d be the first to agree that everyone, not just academia, should be more safety conscience but that could possibly be from the chemical education I received as an undergraduate and graduate student…
Academics are narcissistic cowards who excel at navel gazing.
The majority of US colleges and Universities are NOT in compliance with even the most basic health and safety/ NFPA/ EPA/ OSHA standards. The majority of unsafe working condition events are prosecuted under RCRA (resource conservation recovery act).
If you are a student who has witnessed EPA violations such as unlabeled chemical/ improper storage/ large quantities of solvents in
non sprinklered areas then contact the following.
http://www.epa.gov/tips/
There is a current push by EPA to PROSECUTE faculty who engage in common unsafe practices, such as, using improper refrigeration units for storage of volatiles, storage of waste in excess of mandated removal time frames and other commonly encountered, academician inspired insanity. Please note these are felonies.
Does your faculty member have any unlabeled flammables in rusty containers (particularly ethers). Then contact the EPA. These are Felonies that the majority of US faculty are guilty of.
sounds like someone needs a cookie…
Anyone can fart out ‘facts’ like ‘the majority of US colleges are NOT in compliance with…’ but I’d like some published material to back that up. Contrary to (your) popular belief the NFPA/EPA/OSHA people do come through academic labs on a regular basis and would certainly love to hand out felonies if they saw one.