No matter the importance of the research performed, a lab employee’s first job is ensuring safety.

The Environmental Health and Safety Department held a lab safety summit Thursday for continued training of university faculty who oversee Iowa State’s more than 1,500 laboratories. Paul Richmond, associate director of Environmental Health and Safety, said although faculty monitor labs and work to ensure students have proper safety training, most accidents occur when individual users fail to apply their training.

“It’s more common than uncommon that [when accidents happen] it’s an individual doing an unsafe act, rather than a failure of equipment or something like that,” Richmond said.

He said the most common lab accidents include cuts from broken glassware and burns from chemicals or heat sources.

Small incidents may occur when lab workers fail to use proper procedures or wear personal protective gear such as goggles, appropriate gloves or lab coats. One of the most common dangerous habits is not wearing appropriate protective eyewear. Richmond said this usually occurs because lab users don’t take the time to find and adjust goggles to fit properly.

Most accidents cause injuries that can be dealt with in the lab or on campus, but Richmond said EH&S takes all reported incidents very seriously.

“Small accidents are often a precursor to something that could be bigger,” Richmond said. “We treat all [incidents] as something we need to look at.”

Safety training is readily available through EH&S as well as departments that operate laboratories.

Chemistry majors are required to take a for-credit class in lab procedure and some level of safety training is a prerequisite for working in most labs, but with time users of all skill levels may become too comfortable and develop dangerous habits.

“They might have worked in the lab for a while and they decide this rule doesn’t apply to them so they will be more willing to take a shortcut,” said Jeanne Stewart, assistant scientist in food science and human nutrition.

While some practices may become lax, Richmond said in his experience students are usually responsible enough to keep horseplay in the lab to a minimum.

“I think that is a credit to students,” Richmond said.

“What I have found is that is that at the college level the majority of the individuals working in the laboratory are really focused on what they need to do.”

Richmond stressed that individuals are ultimately responsible for their own safety in the lab. Developing and reinforcing good habits helps students in the sciences distinguish themselves in ways as important to employers as their technical studies, he said.

“If they go out into the real world they need these skills,” Richmond said.

“If they go to work for DuPont there is an expectation that they know how to work safely.”