Lab Safety Awareness Week

Lab Safety Awareness Week is an event held from February 8-12, 2027, that recognizes the successes of laboratory health and safety programs and offers information and ideas on how to keep our faculty, staff, and students safe.

Why Participate?

Successful laboratory safety awareness and programs can help identify and manage laboratory hazards before they cause injury. Participating in CSHEMA Lab Safety Awareness Week can help get your awareness programs started, boost one that already exists, or highlight your safety successes.

Award Submission

Submit Here

Get recognized for your creative initiatives in promoting Laboratory Safety Awareness on your campus. The award submission deadline is March 31st. Upload a summary of your institution’s initiative for the promotion of CSHEMA’s Laboratory Safety Week, highlighting the attributes described below:

• Deployment strategy
• Integration and quality of media and mediums
• Message clarity
• Originality

Lab Safety Awareness Week Resources

 Posters

Below are LSAW posters with great information on a variety of lab safety topics. They can be customized on the bottom of each poster to include your institution’s logo and department contact information. The posters are available in English and Spanish, and come in SVG, PPTX, PNG, and PDF file formats.

Click the link next to each poster to access the poster’s files.

Greenhouse Safety

Greenhouses are integral to research and educational activities, yet safety concerns are frequently overlooked.

Greenhouse Safety

Makerspaces

Elements of safety-by-design, user training, and strategies for monitoring and access control are essential for makerspace safety.

Makerspaces

Engineering Controls

Identifying, getting familiar via training, and maintaining engineering control equipment is critical in protecting and saving lives and health.

Engineering Controls

Chemical Storage

Best Practices for Chemical Storage are critical to ensure community safety.

Chemical Storage

Personal Protective Equipment and General Lab Attire

Personal protective equipment (PPE) helps to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses.

PPE and General Lab Attire

We're All in this Together!

Safety is everyone’s responsibility. When each person in the lab does their part, the lab is a safer place to work.

We're All in this Together

Safety Equipment in the Lab

Identifying, getting familiar via training, and keeping and maintaining safety equipment are critical in protecting and saving lives and health in emergency situations.

Lab Safety Equipment

Lab Housekeeping

Good lab housekeeping reduces the number of accidents, minimizes risks & consequences of slips, trips, falls, unplanned reactions, and fire.

Lab Housekeeping

Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment

The process of identifying hazards, determining the severity of potential risks, and establishing suitable/proper control measures in place are key components to keep the academic community safe.

Hazard Assessment

Meet Our Team

Spotlight department leaders or key personnel.

Meet Our Team

Compressed Gas Safety

Keeping compressed gas cylinders secured, closed, inspected, and used correctly is key to preventing accidents.

Compressed Gas Safety

Peroxide Forming Chemicals

Dangerous explosive peroxides can form when peroxide-forming chemicals are stored or mishandled.

Peroxide Forming Chemicals

New for 2027

Yearly Safety Tasks

A poster of safety tasks to schedule through the year.

Poster files

Weekly Habits Checklist

A weekly checklist of lab safety habits.

Poster files

Sink It or Submit It

A guide to lab chemical disposal: what can and cannot go down the sink.

Poster files

Sharps Safety

Safe handling and disposal of sharps in the lab.

Poster files

Bloodborne Pathogens

Key practices for working safely around bloodborne pathogens.

Poster files

Incompatibles and Chemical Waste

Waste container incompatibilities to keep in mind when collecting chemical waste.

Poster files

Clean Benches

What clean benches do and how to use them safely.

Poster files

Anatomy of a Fume Hood

The parts of a fume hood and how they protect you.

Poster files

Biosafety Cabinets

An overview of biosafety cabinets and their proper use.

Poster files

 Activities

Pre-made activities to enhance your Lab Safety Awareness Week experience! Below are a variety of activities that can be used as handouts, played alone, or played together as a group. Use the button on each activity to open its files.

LSAW Bingo

Review lab safety topics by filling out a bingo card! Prizes could be offered for completed bingos or filled-out cards.

Bingo files

Virtual Escape Rooms

Can you escape the dangerous lab or solve the lab mystery? Two experiences covering a variety of lab safety topics, available as interactive PowerPoints and as Google Forms.

PowerPoint Google Forms

LSAW Jeopardy

Get a group together and test their knowledge of lab safety topics with a round of Jeopardy (interactive PowerPoint).

Jeopardy files

LSAW Word Puzzle

Use your knowledge of lab safety topics to complete this word search and answer the questions. Answer key included.

Word puzzle files

Chemical Storage Game

A printable gameboard with cards and labels: sort the chemicals into safe storage groups and learn compatibility along the way.

Game files

Hierarchy of Controls Memory Game

A matching game that builds familiarity with the hierarchy of controls. Cards and directions included.

Game files

Tabling Event Passport

Run a tabling event during LSAW: participants collect stamps at each station and turn in a completed passport.

Passport files

Safety Valentines

Printable lab safety valentines to hand out during the week.

Valentine files

 Contests

Get your campus involved with the 2027 LSAW contests. Flyers and entry details are in each contest’s files.

Safety Mascot Competition

Submit your lab safety mascot! The first-place mascot is featured at the CSHEMA annual conference. See the 2027 competition flyer for rules and dates.

Competition files

Safe + Sustainable Labs Challenge

New for 2027: show how your labs are both safe and sustainable. See the challenge flyer and rubric for how to enter.

Challenge files

 3D Printing Repository

New for 2027: a shared repository of 3D-printable lab safety items contributed by CSHEMA members.

3D Printing Repository

A shared repository of 3D-printable lab safety items contributed by CSHEMA members.

Open the repository

 Podcasts

Has your team ever wanted to host a podcast? Linked below are sample scripts for a 3-5 minute podcast based on the LSAW posters.

Podcast scripts

• Hazard Assessments and Risk
• PPE
• Peroxide Formers
• Makerspaces
• Lab Safety Equipment
• Lab Housekeeping
• Greenhouse Safety
• Engineering Controls
• Compressed Gases
• Chemical Storage
• All In This Together

 Social Media Posts

If your department already has a social media presence or wants to start, below are pre-made social media posts that follow the LSAW posters.

Social media posts

• Hazard Assessments and Risk
• PPE
• Makerspaces
• Lab Safety Equipment
• Lab Housekeeping
• Greenhouse Safety
• Engineering Controls
• Chemical Storage