Safety Culture on the Ground and in the Lab

Since the mid-1980's, the term "safety culture" has been used to describe an organization's collective response to hazards associated with its work. More specifically, the National Research Council and American Chemical Society have identified this factor in their recommendations for providing a safe work place in academic laboratories. However, trying to identify ways in which this concept can be concretely implemented in the teaching and research setting is an important challenge. Our work has looked at how the safety culture concept is expressed "on the ground" in the academic setting. Specifically, we report on 4 surveys related to Environmental Health and Safety experiences and attitudes in this sector and 3 case studies of how specific high profile laboratory incidents have impacted cultures at their institutions. Based on this information, we have begun the development of a systems model of the role that an institution's culture plays in the safety decisions made in planning and carrying out laboratory work. This model is presented and the advantages and limits are discussed.