The University of Nevada, Reno has been named to receive the American Chemical Society’s SafetyStratus College and University Health and Safety Award for 2022. The award honors the most comprehensive chemical safety program in higher education laboratories where undergraduate students study and work.
The award-winning application satisfied all ten award criteria which ask nominees to detail their safety policies, chemical hygiene plans for instructional laboratories, evidence of safety concepts in the teaching curriculum, evidence of waste minimization and more.
The Department of Chemistry in the College of Science and Research & Innovation’s Environmental Health & Safety, two departments that work closely to maintain and enhance chemical and laboratory safety throughout the University, submitted the nomination together.
It highlighted four initiatives newly implemented into the campus-safety program since the University last received the award in 2005. Two stand-out initiatives, the Safety Training for Academic Research (STAR) Laboratory and the Safest Teaching Assistant Awards program, emphasize the strong team effort that goes into the award-winning program.
“A successful safety program is about people, caring enough about people to make their safety a priority and working together to implement programs to ensure their safety,” said Ben Owens, director of Environmental Health & Safety.
Recognized for its demonstration of leadership and safety during its first year of development, the STAR Laboratory received the CSHEMA Innovation Award of Honor in 2017.
It is dedicated to hands-on laboratory safety training for students and faculty in four areas: chemical hazard information, use of chemical fume hoods and hazardous waste management, identification of laboratory hazards and cleanup of chemical spills. The Safest Teaching Assistant Awards are given to the Department of Chemistry teaching assistants whose classes demonstrate the best laboratory safety performance. This program previously won a national award from the Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association.
The University will receive the award at the ACS Fall national conference in Chicago, Illinois.
