Sharing Safety and Safe Behavior to Universities thru Lab Safety Workshops

Abstract

Safety and safe behavior at various universities, especially in Indonesia, are still neglected and sometimes this failure to observe safety in lab activities end up with accidents that can be minor such as lost sample, up to major with bodily injury or fatality. As graduates from universities are source of new-hires for the industry, having high-quality graduates that are versed in safety would improve the quality of incoming new-hires and possibly reduce the onboarding process within oil companies. To improve the condition at various university laboratories in Indonesia, Chevron IndoAsia Business Unit (Chevron IBU), has developed a 4-day workshop, called as "Good Laboratory Practices" (GLP) Workshop, that shares industry's best practices in: safety and safe lab behavior, flammable and combustible materials, basic fire prevention, lab waste management, lab business plan, statistical data analysis, sample custody chain, lab accreditation, and Fundamental Safe Work Principles.This well-received workshop has been conducted sixteen (16) times, since the inception in late 2006, and will be continued with 4 similar workshops this year. These workshops were conducted to 7 universities and a national lab in Indonesia, attended by lab managers, lab operators, graduate students and other personnel. As each attendee would interact with students, either during classroom or lab sessions, this workshop has been estimated to influence close to 5000 students in improving their safety and safe behavior, This paper would share the challenges in developing the workshop and initial resistance from university professors, quick hitter and best practices as the program comes to maturity.