The Joint Research Safety Initiative is a community of students, postdocs and research assistants whose focus is to facilitate a sustainable safety culture by providing educational tools, training, and resources organization.
It was created at the researcher level to promote a higher level of safety awareness and to improve and sustain the safety culture in the Department of Chemistry and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. Collaborating with Dow Chemical Company for advice and resources, the Joint Research Safety Committee will use a variety of methods to develop a mindful and integrated safety culture in the laboratories.
We aim to facilitate the following:
- Compliance with personal protective equipment requirements in all labs
- Improved housekeeping of labs, which includes proper chemical storage and labeling, no food or drink in the labs, and no defacing of empty containers
- Increased communication of safety incidents and accidents by reporting them in the UCAIR system or to campus police
- Compliance with training requirements for all members of the lab
- Fully evaluated, up-to-date, and annually revised laboratory standard operating procedures and training documentation
Peer Lab Walkthroughs
2023 PLW Evaluation Year 5 Programmatic Evaluation 8/7/2023 – ORS Update