ACS SAFETY EFFORTS

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                              There are many different safety-related programs, projects and other efforts that the American Chemical Society is involved in, either at the staff, governance committee, technical division or symposium levels. We are accumulating a list of these activities below. If you know of something else that should be on this list, please let us know at secretary@dchas.org.

               1. Division of Chemical Health and Safety: DCHAS is a Technical Division of the Society that pursues research into all elements of chemical and laboratory safety, including technical and management aspects. The Division hosts technical symposia at national and regional meetings, published a bi-monthly peer-reviewed Journal, and hosts educational workshops at national and regional meetings.

               2. Committee on Chemical Safety: CCS is a Committee of the Society that provides technical and educational leadership within the Society with regard to safety issues. The Committee produces a variety of peer reviewed documents which provide peer guidance with regard to technical and management issues related to chemical safety in the laboratory, particularly in the educational setting.

               3. Division of Chemical Education Safety Committee: is a new Committee of the Division of Chemical Education established in 2015. The DCHED safety committee is reviewing safety guidance documents published by the division and plans outreach to members around safety issues.

               4. C&EN Safety Zone Blog: The Chemical and Engineering News blog site includes the Safety Zone which provides ongoing updates on chemical and laboratory safety events and trends to the ACS membership and public.

               5. Committee on Professional Training: The CPT provides guidelines for undergraduate chemistry programs wishing to gain CPT approval to certify chemistry majors. These guidelines include expectations that address laboratory safety education in the undergraduate curriculum.

               6. American Association of Chemistry Teachers: The AACT provides safety programming as part of its outreach to high school chemistry teachers.

               7. Society Committee on Education: SOCED provides “Guidelines and Recommendations for the Teaching of High School Chemistry” .

               8. Technical Programming: Many of the ACS technical divisions include symposia in their international, national and regional meeting programs. For example, at PacificChem in December, 2015 a day long symposium addressing laboratory safety issues from a variety of perspectives was held. Additionally, a Presidential symposium on laboratory safety is being developed for the August, 2016 national meeting.