223570 Using Transparency to Increase Awareness of Chemical Hazards in University Laboratories

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Miriam Weil, MPH, Doctoral Student , School of Health and Environment, Work Environment Department, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Lowell, MA
The “Right-To-Know” is a rallying point for organizing stakeholder groups. The objective of these programs is straightforward: to provide workers with information about chemicals, so that they will be able to make better choices in employment, work practices or their personal lives.

This project examines how improved chemical information can increase the understanding of chemical health and safety and increase the effectiveness of decision making with regards to chemical management in research laboratories at universities. University research laboratories are places where many toxic chemicals not only threaten the health and safety of students and university staff, but, also threaten the public health and security of the surrounding neighborhoods. The risk of exposure to chemicals is especially immediate for researchers who work in the laboratories and custodians who clean the facilities. Individuals in both groups may not be aware of the hazards presented by the chemicals in the lab; they may have incomplete knowledge of the risks. Simply providing the information (e.g. Material Safety Data Sheets) does not insure that the information is accurate, used, understood, or incorporated into decision-making about chemical purchasing, handling or disposal.

In order to evaluate the quality of information sources, we study two groups with different educational backgrounds, graduate students and workers, who handle chemicals in university research laboratories as test subjects. We give them hypothetical questions about chemical exposures and ask them to search for the answers on several websites and rate their experiences using criteria for the effective embeddedness of the information.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Communication and informatics
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
1.Analyze the characteristics of web-based information for improving risk perception amongst workers in university research laboratories. 2.Compare how different types of laboratory workers use and assess internet-based information on chemical hazards. 3.Evaluate whether access to enhanced chemical information can increase the understanding of chemical hazards for workers in university research laboratories.

Keywords: Decision-Making, Occupational Exposure

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I worked as a human health risk assessor for over 20 years. I worked in the Harvard Environmental Health and Safety Office training graduate students in research laboratories how to use a chemical management system. This research is part of my doctoral dissertation on "Institutional Capacity for Chemical Management at universities".
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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