CSHEMA - Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association

Traditional lab safety training often struggles to keep pace with the dynamic learning styles of today’s students. Enter Escape the Lab—an interactive, mystery-based training experience developed at Georgia Tech to transform safety education for new graduate teaching assistants in chemistry. This session explores the design, implementation, and impact of a fully gamified lab safety escape room, where participants solve real-world hazards, identify regulatory clues, and unlock key safety principles under pressure. This session offers a behind-the-scenes look at puzzle creation, learning outcomes, and facilitator tools that drive both engagement and retention. Whether you’re looking to revamp your training program or incorporate active learning strategies, this session provides replicable models, student feedback, and practical guidance for launching your own immersive safety mission.

Laboratory operations (i.e., experiments, reactions, cooks, synthesis) are orderly procedures carried out to verify, refute, or establish a hypothesis. All laboratory operations can be broken down into four basic parts; the activity, the hazards, safeguards, and additional requirements necessary to safely complete the laboratory operation. This session will increase your ability to identify safety hazards in a laboratory and enhance your understanding of safe laboratory design and operation. For laboratory inspections to ensure safety and compliance with regulations and guidelines, this PDS will explore two different approaches. The first approach is the laboratory inspection checklist where laboratory inspections are conducted annually. The second approach is the safety audit of the conditions and operations that occur daily in the laboratory.

Running a lab effectively requires a thorough understanding of lab operations, strong organizational skills, and clear communications. EHS professionals regularly engage with research, teaching, and core facility labs, encountering both streamlined and chaotic operations. Our unique position allows us to evaluate lab practices, build strong relationships with key personnel, and guide labs toward more effective processes. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the organizational structures of various lab types and explore essential aspects of lab management. Topics to be covered include initial lab setup, daily operations, safety management, emergency preparedness,and lab closeout. Discover practical strategies that EHS professionals can use to help optimize lab processes and address management challenges, ultimately fostering both good science and a stronger culture of safety.

Compliance with the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has historically been a lower priority in academia, despite its central role in regulating chemicals in the United States. TSCA has gained newfound attention due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) increasing efforts to ban harmful chemicals and address long-standing public health and environmental concerns. This session will provide the history of TSCA, its 40-year evolution, and recent regulatory actions, like the conditional ban on methylene chloride, that have brought TSCA into the spotlight. Attendees will gain an understanding of how TSCA has shaped chemical safety policy, the challenges of regulating chemicals in commerce, and the impact of key legislative changes, such as the 2016 Lautenberg Act. We will also explore the future of chemical regulation, including ongoing efforts to evaluate existing chemicals and the potential for further bans.

At the University of California, Riverside, the Environmental Health and Safety office collaborated with college stakeholders to develop and implement a standardized safety approach in instructional laboratories. Given the diversity of lab activities and varying safety awareness levels, the initiative focuses on creating a consistent, campus-wide framework for laboratory safety in instructional laboratories. Key elements of the approach include clear outline of responsibilities, hazard assessments, clear and accessible safety protocols, and regular safety audits to ensure compliance and minimize risks. The presentation will highlight how fostering a proactive safety culture and providing comprehensive resources enhances both the educational experience and the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff in UCR’s instructional laboratories.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of field research, ensuring the safety and well-being of researchers and those working in the field is paramount. This presentation, co-led by Beth Welmaker and Larry Mendoza, focuses on the development, launch and implementation of a Field Safety Program by utilizing tools and resources provided by the Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) Field Safety Community and Symposium. The discussion will cover key aspects of field safety, including risk assessment, emergency response planning, training and education, and the use of technology to enhance safety protocols. By highlighting successful case studies and practical applications, the presenters will demonstrate how the tools they received from CSHEMA were integrated into existing safety frameworks to create a culture of safety awareness and preparedness.

Following a 2022 internal audit of the University of Florida’s research safety programs, Environmental Safety and Compliance Officer (ESCO) positions were established to enhance lab safety, compliance, and research efficiency within individual colleges, representing EH&S in the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Agriculture, and Liberal Arts & Sciences. Over two years, the initiative progressed from audit recommendations to securing centralized funding, hiring personnel, and onboarding staff. This presentation will outline key milestones, challenges, and the benefits of embedded safety professionals, reducing administrative burdens, ensuring accountability within the colleges and fostering a proactive safety culture. By embedding EH&S within research-intensive colleges, UF has strengthened lab safety oversight, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency, ensuring that research progresses safely and without barriers.

Biosafety as a career is often an accidental discovery, with no standard pathway or educational requirement. The University of California system, with over 40 biosafety positions across its campuses, often struggles to fill these roles due to a national shortage of biosafety professionals. UC Irvine’s market research predicts a 13.1% increase in biosafety jobs in the US by 2033, alongside significant retirements, exacerbating the shortage. To address this, UC Irvine BSL-3 Training Program, in collaboration with UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education and UC biosafety professionals, is developing an Introduction to Biosafety as a Career course. Targeting researchers, laboratorians, and life sciences undergraduates, this blended learning series includes online instruction on biosafety fundamentals and in-person internships. Participants will earn stackable digital credentials, fostering expertise and awareness in biosafety, and enabling entry-level career pursuits in the field.

In December 2022, an employee contractor at SLAC National Laboratory received a high voltage shock. This incident led to Stanford University’s Research Safety team accelerating development of an electrical safety program for our researchers. There are numerous challenges to universities looking to develop and implement electrical safety programs for research, and in this presentation we will describe how we have worked to overcome these challenges. We will discuss the codes, standards, and references we drew from to develop our written program, as well as the wide variety of partners and subject matter experts we connected with. We will also discuss the early stages of our program rollout, including resource and training development, highlighting items that have proven particularly effective or popular.

Taxidermy animal collections can be found in places of higher education and are used in classrooms, museums, comparative anatomy and wildlife conservation collections, and research. Arsenic-containing compounds were a popular way to ensure long-term preservation of taxidermy and animal hides from decay and pests starting around 1800. Its use was prohibited in museums in 1980, although many specimens today still contain arsenic. We have modernized a protocol originally published by the National Park Service in 2000 that has allowed us to test two of our taxidermy collections on campus to identify pieces which contain arsenic. We will discuss the containment strategies we have employed to manage specimens which tested positive and share recommendations for ongoing assurance that our taxidermy collections are safe to use in teaching, research, and public outreach.

The day after Christmas a 100,000-gallon flood critically impaired 200,000 square feet and 3 floors of Duke University Hospital, an academic medical center, severely hampering operations of the emergency department, radiology, pharmacy, sterile processing, and supply chain. This session will highlight the joint efforts between Duke’s Occupational and Environmental Safety Office’s Occupational Hygiene & Safety and Fire & Life Safety Divisions, and key stakeholders to prioritize operational needs. This multi-disciplinary approach culminated in the hospital’s emergency department coming off “divert” status in 4 days and allowed leadership to develop a phased reopening plan whereby 85% of impacted areas were fully functional in 2 weeks, 95% in 3 weeks, and 100% in 4 weeks. This provided an important framework for future events – which happened on a smaller scale only a month later. What we will share has wide-ranging considerations for all types of facilities and operations.

In 2024, The Ohio State University started a journey to cultivate a world class culture of safety for its Department of Facilities Operations and Development. The university believed creating a world-class behavior-based safety program and fostering a culture of safety within this department would effectively safeguard staff and contractors in a manner that traditional safety programs fail. This presentation will unveil the step-by-step process, practices, and strategies the university utilized to develop and implement a comprehensive behavior-based safety program that aligns with the university’s shared values while fostering a culture to perform above industry standards and regulations. Key topics will include content development, cultural principles, engaging with leadership at all levels within the organization, fostering participation among all personnel, and effective integration into established university processes.

Choosing a contractor to complete projects (large or small) on a university campus can be decided by the lowest bid. As with many things in life, “”you get what you pay for””. Low bidders might be saving money by not committing funds to safety. Adding safety as one of the metrics used to choose your project contractor or service contractor can help narrow your field of candidates. Utilities & Energy Services at Texas A&M University has made safety a factor in selecting contractors to perform projects from $10,000 to $10,000,000. See how expectations are set for contractors to perform work on a campus, which is very different from an industrial or commercial setting.