Traditionally, safety controls (barriers) have been identified as physical in nature—like a safety shield, glove box, or personal protective equipment—intended to separate and protect people and the environment from specific hazards.[1] However, the success of physical barriers in a laboratory setting depends highly upon specific behaviors by the laboratory workers; these, in turn, are influenced by organizational policies and oversight and an organization’s explicit commitment to them. Consequently, to assure their effectiveness, the safety barrier concept has to be extended beyond physical safeguards to consider a variety of organizational and operational barriers. Controlling laboratory hazards requires effective management of a variety of both physical and organizational barriers such as; the laboratory environment and equipment must be selected with appropriate capabilities for the experiments being conducted; proper maintenance and care of equipment to ensure that itfunctions as designed as the hazards involved in the work change (i.e. automatic shut-offs, safety shower, eye wash, etc.); the laboratory workers’ capabilities to identify hazardous situations and mitigate risk; organizational procedures and cultural practices that directly influence a laboratory worker’s actions; and active monitoring of safety management systems (i.e. hazard identification, procedures, incident investigations, inspections, etc.) to ensure their effectiveness. By expanding the definition of safety barriers, it becomes apparent that individuals responsible for laboratory safety are not just those at the lab bench, nor is “safe” a static endeavor. Instead it requires continual monitoring and response at various levels of an organization to ensure effective barriers to prevent accidents. [1] Sklet, S. Safety Barriers: Definitions, Classification, and Performance. J. Loss Prevent. Proc. 2006, 19, 494.

Introduction to bowtie methodology for a laboratory setting

251st National Meeting (2016)

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