Shifting Culture from Blame to Gain: A Call for Papers to Openly Discuss Chemical Incidents

Safety and Perceptions of Risk in the Handling of Laboratory Chemicals in a Biological Research Community

“…Safety in the handling and use of chemicals is a recurring and increasingly contentious area of public debate. A wide variety of chemicals are regularly used within academic, government, and commercial research environments; however, comprehensive learning from the experiences of these diverse organizations is constrained by, among other factors, a practice of allocating blame to individuals and organizational sensitivity to reputational risk . The need for more research into chemical safety in academic chemical laboratories has been advocated in an extensive recent review .…”

“…A wide variety of chemicals are regularly used within academic, government, and commercial research environments; however, comprehensive learning from the experiences of these diverse organizations is constrained by, among other factors, a practice of allocating blame to individuals and organizational sensitivity to reputational risk. 1 The need for more research into chemical safety in academic chemical laboratories has been advocated in an extensive recent review. 2 The authors identify gaps in our knowledge and critique current research methodologies, in particular the absence of data validation and reliance on selfreported data.…”

“…2 The authors identify gaps in our knowledge and critique current research methodologies, in particular the absence of data validation and reliance on selfreported data. 2 Similarly, the need for a shift of "blame to gain" in laboratory culture and for the open discussion of chemical incidents has been argued, 1 as has the necessity to understand human behaviors 3 and the use of "teachable moments" as opportunities to follow in pursuit of a self-regulating safety environment. 4 The importance of changing an organization's approach to accidents and incident investigation was recognized in a case study to improve the safety culture at the United States Forest Service.…”

A Laboratory Accident of Acryloyl Chloride, Its Consequences, Treatment, and Safety Measures: An Arduous Lesson to All Researchers

“…Due to the propensity for victim-blaming, post-incident investigations are frequently perceived as being punishing rather than new learning opportunities. This leads to a poor accident investigation in which only the primary cause is identified rather than the underlying causes . As a result, negative attitudes toward safety policies and procedures are becoming more prevalent, poisoning the attitudes of future generations of students, and increasing the rate of under-reporting .…”

“…This leads to a poor accident investigation in which only the primary cause is identified rather than the underlying causes. 16 As a result, negative attitudes toward safety policies and procedures are becoming more prevalent, poisoning the attitudes of future generations of students, and increasing the rate of under-reporting. 7 Institutions and PIs have an ethical obligation to provide comprehensive safety training on the use of reagents and chemicals.…”