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The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI)

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The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI)

An International Non-Profit with a mission for Making Health, Safety and the Environment an Important and Integral Part of Education,Work and Life!

The Laboratory Safety Institute is an international nonprofit education organization for laboratory safety. LSI provides the highest quality laboratory safety training, audits, inspections and consultation services throughout the world. LSI serves labs in 130 different industries, research,
high-tech, government, medical, clinical, university and schools. Virtually any lab, anywhere can benefit from LSI’s expert training and services.

07/23/2025

Safe school science labs don’t happen by accident!

They require intentional design, ongoing support, and national standards to truly protect students and educators.

Here are six essential elements for sustainable safety in science education:

✅ Curriculum alignment
🏗️ Facilities design
👩‍🏫 Professional development
📋 Administrative control
🧪 Materials management
♻️ Sustainability

These are the building blocks of safer science education—not just for teachers, but for every student stepping into a lab.

Want to bring these elements into your lab or district? Reach out to the Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI) to learn how we can support your lab safety goals through training, resources, and expert guidance.
📩 Contact: alie@labsafety.org
🌐 Learn more: www.labsafety.org

07/22/2025

🚨 Countdown is ON to the Safer Science Summit — happening July 28–Aug 1 at the Museum of Science, Boston!

Calling all science teachers and administrators (grades 6–12) in the Boston area — join us for FREE hands-on safety workshops designed to elevate lab safety practices in your schools.

What to Expect:
✅ CEUs available
✅ OSHA & chemical safety training
✅ Lab inspections & demos
✅ Admin-focused leadership sessions
✅ Networking with fellow educators
✅ And much more!

🔗 Register FREE now at labsafety.org/boston-safer-science-summit

🎓 Every breakthrough starts with a safe place to explore.

07/21/2025

LSI is at ChemEd 2025!

We’re excited to join science educators from across the country at one of the largest conferences focused on teaching chemistry at the K–12 and introductory college levels.

Stop by our our booth to see Connor Michael and Elizabeth Braun, Ph.D. to learn how the Laboratory Safety Institute can support your classroom, your campus, and your commitment to safer science education.

Let’s talk about chemical hygiene, lab safety culture, and empowering educators with the tools to protect their students and themselves because safe science is smart science!

07/18/2025

Volunteer Spotlight: Robert Tatz

The Laboratory Safety Institute is thrilled to recognize Robert Tatz, whose volunteer efforts have transformed how we visualize data, engineer workflows, and scale our impact.

From enhancing partnerships to developing new tools, Robert’s contributions have enabled us to deliver even more value to the schools, scientists, and organizations we serve.

His dedication reflects the power of mission-driven collaboration—and we can’t wait to roll out what’s next.

Thank you, Robert, for helping build a safer, smarter future in science.

07/17/2025

Building a Culture of Lab Safety: Easier Said Than Done...

Despite clear policies and best practices, many lab environments still face resistance when it comes to safety. Whether due to time constraints, lack of training, or simple complacency, getting buy-in from colleagues and leadership remains one of the biggest challenges in lab safety today.

Over the past 50+ years, the Laboratory Safety Institute has identified nearly 100 proven strategies for gaining support, changing mindsets, and ensuring lab safety is taken seriously.

📅 Join us on Friday, July 25th for our upcoming webinar: How to Convince Others (Safety is Important!): https://www.labsafety.org/events/how-to-convince-others-7-25-25

Let’s turn resistance into results.

07/16/2025

OSHA 10-Hour Training, Now Built for the Lab!

Laboratory environments come with unique safety risks—and your OSHA training should reflect that. Our OSHA 10-Hour Course with a Lab Safety Focus goes beyond the basics, covering:
✔️ Chemical handling & hazardous materials
✔️ PPE use in lab settings
✔️ Electrical safety, ventilation, fire protection
✔️ OSHA Lab Standard & Chemical Hygiene Plans
✔️ Real-world examples of what not to do (with photos!)

Designed for lab professionals, researchers, educators, and safety officers, this course delivers:
✅ OSHA 10-Hour Completion Card
✅ Interactive, lab-specific safety content
✅ Compliance knowledge you can actually apply

Join us for our next OSHA-10 Lab Safety Course on August 12-13, 2025: https://www.labsafety.org/events/osha-10-hour-lab-safety-aug-12-2

07/15/2025

We track textbooks, so why don’t we know what chemicals are stored in our labs?

From schools to research institutions, aging chemical inventories, expired reagents, and even banned substances still sit on shelves, which often unmonitored and unmanaged.

It’s time for a national commitment to chemical inventory and lab safety audits.

Where can you begin?
🔍 Identify high-risk chemicals
📦 Safely remove and dispose
🧯 Establish long-term safety monitoring systems

From inventory to disposal, get expert support through our upcoming trainings:
- Lab Waste Management: https://www.labsafety.org/laboratory-waste-management
- Biosafety in the Lab: https://www.labsafety.org/biosafety-in-the-laboratory
- Chemical Hygiene Officer (CHO) Training: https://www.labsafety.org/more-effective-chemical-hygiene-officer
- Two-Day Lab Safety Short Course: https://www.labsafety.org/2-day-lab-safety-short-course
- Three-Day Lab Safety Boot Camp: https://www.labsafety.org/24-hour-boot-camp
- OSHA-10 Lab Safety: https://www.labsafety.org/osha
- Safer Science Summit (Free for Grades 6–12 educators): https://www.labsafety.org/safer-science-summit

07/14/2025

Ready to make your lab safer? And keep it that way!

Join our flagship Three-Day Lab Safety Boot Camp, developed by Dr. Jim Kaufman and trusted worldwide for over 50 years. This immersive course covers everything from OSHA standards and compressed gases to bloodborne pathogens, chemical handling, radiation, ventilation, fire safety, and more.

This hybrid workshop includes:
✅ Interactive sessions & Q&A
✅ Real-world “fail” stories that teach unforgettable lessons
✅ Tips on how to get others to care about safety—despite budgets and time crunches

Who should attend?
- K-12 & university educators
- EHS professionals, researchers, lab staff
- CHOs, risk managers, facilities & operations leaders

Truthfully, anyone who works in or oversees a lab environment

💰 Discounts available: K-12 teachers, group, and membership
📜 Completion certificate, CEUs, optional graduate credit & ABIH CM points
🔗 Register now: https://www.labsafety.org/24-hour-boot-camp
📩 Questions? Email info@labsafety.org

07/11/2025

Stop Blaming Teachers. Start Giving Them Power.

The reality for far too many science teachers is this:
They inherit outdated chemicals, unsafe storage conditions, and no clear roadmap for what to do next.

When parents send their children to school, and when teachers walk into work, there’s a reasonable expectation: Everyone goes home the way they came.

But how can that be guaranteed when schools aren’t given the support, resources, or training to make lab safety possible?

This is what we call a moral hazard: those facing the greatest risk have the least power to fix it.

Let’s be real about what schools are up against:
🔻 15% budget cuts
🔻 Staff shortages
🔻 District-wide crises
Most administrators don’t even know what’s hiding in the back of the chemical stockroom.

No one is acting out of malice.
But the result is the same: systems designed without safety in mind, now impossible to sustain without help.

It’s time to stop blaming and start rebuilding:
✔️ Safer systems
✔️ Safer labs
✔️ Safer futures for educators and students alike

Join Us at the Safer Science Summit, built to meet teachers where they are at.

It gives teachers the tools, training, and voice they need to make real, targeted, sustainable improvements in their labs and districts, year after year.

More than anything, it helps teachers reclaim the power and confidence they deserve.

🧪 Ready to build safer science, together?

📍Boston, MA
https://www.labsafety.org/boston-safer-science-summit

📍Portland, OR
https://www.labsafety.org/portland-safer-science-summit

07/10/2025

Prep for Safety- accidents in the lab don’t wait, and neither should your training.

Did you know nearly 50% of lab accidents involve staff with less than 5 years of experience? That’s why staying ahead with proper training isn’t just smart, it’s vital.

Even if you’re a seasoned pro, lab safety is always evolving. Regular training helps prevent complacency, reinforces best practices, and ensures you're up to date.
✅ Learn practical strategies
✅ Meet compliance requirements
✅ Reduce risk for yourself and your lab

📅 Mark your calendar for our upcoming lab safety trainings and build the skills to lead with confidence and protect your team and students.

K–12 teacher discounts, group rates, and early bird pricing are available!

Let’s make safer science, together.

View full course calendar here: https://www.labsafety.org/courses-calendar

07/09/2025

The Hidden Threat in Our Schools

What if your school, or your child’s, had a bottle of cyanide from the 1980s still sitting in the science lab?

Across the U.S., outdated chemical stockpiles like perchlorates and potassium dichromate remain on shelves: unlabeled, expired, and dangerously overlooked.

These aren’t relics of the past. They’re serious, present-day health hazards.

If this looks all too familiar, here are 3 critical things that must be prioritized:

✅ National chemical audits
✅ Safe disposal funding
✅ Structural reform and educator training

It’s time to bring school lab safety into the 21st century.

Read the full article by our director Stephen Taylor:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/silent-hazard-pandemic-legacy-chemicals-our-schools-stephen-taylor-zlqtc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via

07/07/2025

Ignorance isn’t bliss. In the lab, it’s lethal bliss.
Every year, over 2,000 students end up in the ER due to preventable STEM-related incidents.

Why?
- We don’t have a strong handle on lab safety in K-12.
- Too many educators feel unprepared and unsupported.

The result? Turnover in STEM education is high, making it even harder to build consistent, sustainable safety systems.

We’re helping change that.

Welcome to the Safer Science Summit, a hands-on, systems-building, community-powered experience designed to empower teachers and protect students.

When educators are equipped with the right tools, mindset, and support, they don’t just survive in the classroom, they lead the next generation of scientists.

From kindergarten to college, we’re changing behaviors early so that future scientists can be ready to enter professional adulthood properly.

This isn’t about compliance.
It’s about culture.

And this summit?
It’s not a one-time fix.

Every year, teachers return with new questions, deeper insight, and greater impact.

They’re challenging their schools’ safety programs and leaving with the clarity and confidence to make them better.

The Safer Science Summit. You need to be here.

Next stops:
📍 Boston, MA (July 28–Aug 1) → https://www.labsafety.org/boston-safer-science-summit
📍 Portland, OR (August 4–8) → https://www.labsafety.org/portland-safer-science-summit

Thank you to our sponsors who have made this summit possible: University of Cincinnati, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Michelman, The Shepherd Chemical Company, Michele Dufault Foundation, Cincinnati Section of ACS, Carolina® Science, Dawson Education Cooperative, Ouachita Baptist University, Thomas More University, Henderson State University, and all our volunteers.

Address

Natick, MA

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15086471900

Website

http://www.LabSafety.org/

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Our Story

The Laboratory Safety Institute is a nonprofit educational institution providing safety courses and consulting for chemical laboratories worldwide.

We have taught courses to more than 100,000 people in 27 countries, spanning 130 different industries, including research, high-tech, government, medicine, and academia. Many of our students say they love our courses because they are engaging and make a wealth of information easy to absorb and retain. Virtually any lab, anywhere can benefit from our expert training, audits and inspections.

The Laboratory Safety Institute was founded by James Kaufman, Ph.D. in 1978. While driving home from work in 1973, he heard on the radio that there had been a serious explosion at nearby Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Kaufman had recently completed post-doctoral work at Worcester Polytechnic, and had earned his Ph.D. there a few years before. Upon hearing the news of the accident, he bypassed his house, driving straight to the Worcester lab instead.

"I got there two hours after the explosion," Kaufman remembers. "The light fixtures had been blown off the ceiling, the windows had been blown out of the room. A grad student I knew blew off portions of his hands, and he was lucky he wasn't killed."