Texas Tech Researcher Appointed to Laboratory Safety Task Force

Texas Tech Associate Vice President for Research Alice Young has been appointed to the new Task Force on Laboratory Safety, which is tasked with enhancing a culture of laboratory safety.

The task force was formed amid concerns raised by multiple entities, including the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Board, about a lack of “lab safety culture” in universities. Created by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the task force is comprised of researchers, and environmental and health safety experts.

Texas Tech alone has had two lab explosions in the last decade one in 2010 and another in 2015 after the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board concluded the 2010 explosion was the result of poor safety management, hazard evaluation and organizational accountability.

“A strong safety culture is a critical part of faculty and student success in our laboratories and studios. The APLU task force will build on the work that Texas Tech’s faculty-led Institutional Laboratory Safety Committee has done to reinforce the importance of faculty leadership in identifying hazards that may accompany creative laboratory and studio work and in working with our Environmental Health & Safety professionals to mitigate any risks.”