Last week, @pennchemistry.bsky.social and EHRS co-hosted ChemAIstry & Consequences, a workshop exploring the unintended consequences of using AI in chemical research. Attendees learned best practices from Prof. Andrew Zahrt and heard scenarios from fellow department members. Thanks to all who came!

Friday is the last day to sign up for the Green Labs/Thermofisher ULT freezer blitz in celebration of Energy Week at Penn. Signing up gets you a free ULT health assessment to help better preserve your samples long-term and save energy!

Join us as we celebrate Lab Safety Awareness Week Feb 9 - 13! Members of our team will be coming around to labs recognizing researchers wearing proper PPE, because "Safe labs wear PPE"!

Thanks to the Dept of Otorhinolaryngology at the Perelman School of Medicine for sharing their extra tubes with folks in Arts & Sciences through our Lab Supply Program. Learn more: research.upenn.edu/resource/pen... To date, we have saved $11k+ and prevented 580 lb of waste from entering landfill!

Our new lab FAQ is up: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet.... Topics this quarter include our new field safety program, as well as the chance to participate in the International Freezer Challenge and Energy Week! Spread the word!

Our team has completed the first round of testing for showers and eyewashes across campus, with 3,420 tests completed (2,761 eyewashes & 659 safety showers)! Our student workers did an incredible job and will continue ongoing testing through the year. Thanks to all who helped make this possible!

Penn is one of the few health systems in the area to offer proton radiation therapy which can precisely target complex tumors while sparing health tissue. Our team recently spent several nights testing the on-board imaging equipment for proton therapy to ensure the highest standards of patient care.

As the semester begins to wind down, our team wants to remind you to prepare your labs for the upcoming university holiday closure to avoid any surprises while folks are out. See our preparation guide here: ehrs.upenn.edu/announcement...

It's time again to check your shelves and fridges for peroxide formers! See our site for more information on what to check and how to check it and what to do if you find any: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet...

It's not too late to register for a free webinar hosted by @beyondbenign.bsky.social today at 12 PM EST about outreach in Green Chemistry and by extension, Safety. Our Project Manager will be presenting with practical tips for conducting outreach events. Don't miss it! mailchi.mp/afdfee950c76...

Thanks to the Penn Postdoctoral Association for inviting us to their Science & Technology Fair yesterday! Our team had the opportunity to answer questions, host interactive games, hand out snacks and giveaways, and provide our hardworking postdoctoral researchers with support.

Thank you to all who came out to our Biosafety Month events in October! We have one more event on Nov. 6 at Penn Vet in Hill Pavilion lobby from 10 - 11 AM. Don't miss your chance to learn, snack and ask our biosafety officers questions!

Last week, we celebrated Mole Day with @pennchemistry.bsky.social and Fire & Emergency Services in a First Aid in the Labs awareness program. Check out this flyer to post in your lab in case of emergency: ehrs.upenn.edu/sites/defaul.... Thanks to all who came out and made this possible!

Our Shut the Sash campaign is in full swing this month. Representatives from our office and Penn Sustainability will be looking for labs who close their fume hood sashes when not in use - a safer and a more energy and cost-efficient practice! Spread the word to colleagues and labmates!

Our Lab Safety FAQs have been updated: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet...! Learn about Biosafety Month events, ongoing DCM sampling, and answers to some common waste disposal questions.

October is Biosafety Month! Come out and celebrate with our biosafety team as we table across campus throughout the month with your answers to biosafety questions, as well as snacks and giveaways! Schedule of events can be found here: tinyurl.com/Biosafety-Aw...

Thanks to everyone who visited our table at the Penn Ready event on Friday! It was great connecting with our partners in health and safety to support team-based initiatives and responses. The side-by-side burn demonstration with fire safety was especially informative.

Our team helped rehome some unneeded labware from our friends at the LRSM to our partners at Community College of Philadelphia. The collaboration enabled cost efficiency, space savings, and sustainable practices. Does your lab have extra items? Let us know: upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Thank you to all who came by our table at Cores Day yesterday! The Smilow lobby was buzzing with the energy of researchers excited for another year of life-saving and world-changing work. We are so proud to support the success of our researchers.

Come out to table 8 to see the EHRS biosafety team and Green Labs and get some goodies to help you be safer in the lab! Presentations at 11:50 and 12:10!

It's that time again! If your lab has peroxide formers, this is your reminder to check on them and handle anything that may need attention. Our team is here to help if you're not sure what to do. Here's the SOP for peroxide formers to get you started: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet...

Thank you to @pennchemistry.bsky.social for inviting our team to welcome researchers to the Fall term with our annual safety meeting. Covering topics identified through conversations with the department, we also discussed updated regulations and events. We wish everyone a safe and successful term!

Members of our X-ray safety team attended the American Association of Physicists in Medicine meeting last month as they maintain certifications and keep up with advances and regulatory changes in the field and in the residency program. Doing our part to keep Penn safe!

Congrats to the 25 Penn labs that participated in the 2025 Annual Freezer Challenge, an international competition focusing on sustainable actions taken for cold storage management. Penn landed in 18th place out of 292 overall organizations across 29 countries, saving over 372.5 kWh/day!

Local high school students got the chance to learn about health and safety careers in an afternoon filled with storytelling and activities. They tried on specialty PPE, tested their skills at doffing gloves, and detected radiation in grocery store items (all of us humans contain potassium)!

It's time for our quarterly Lab Safety FAQs that can be found here: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet... They feature tips for waste disposal, chemical inventory questions, sonicator/homogenizer advice, and advice for labs that are closing or moving. Check it out!

Congratulations to our Shower and Eyewash team that recently completed a full test of all 2,717 eyewashes on campus, submitting work orders for any needed repairs and ensuring all are fully operational and have a maintenance program! Thanks to FRES for their collaboration!

This week, we are grateful to our partners at Keen Gas who provided some helpful training on compressed gas safety to our lab workers. Thanks for making it happen and providing the learning from the experts!

EHRS recently completed sampling and evaluation of dichloromethane (DCM) use in Penn labs, in accordance with an EPA ruling from 2024. 63% of labs using DCM have since discontinued use, while remaining labs have decreased use and improved workflows for researcher safety.

June is National Safety Month! Our EHRS web site has a ton of freely available resources for specialty safety needs associated with chemical, physical, biological and radiological hazards. Come explore: ehrs.upenn.edu and see if you can identify one area of your workspace to make safer this month!

Time for our quarterly reminder to check your peroxide formers! To learn more about what to look for, how to keep yourself safe, and what to do if you find a package that looks like this one, visit ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet.... Photo credit: Stephen F Austin State University

Kicking off the summer with some basics of lab safety for our visiting undergraduate researchers. Welcome to Penn! We are here to answer your lab safety questions: [email protected].

Last week, our team spent the day at the PAR Expo educating about and demonstrating radiation monitoring and dispelling myths about radiation. The collaborative energy was electric, and we're grateful especially to CHOP and HUP for their partnership!

Last week, @pennchemistry.bsky.social hosted a Safety Round Robin with grad student led hands-on workshops for attendees. After gathering feedback, this safety event scored an 8.1/10 on a scale of enjoyment - a monumental accomplishment! So proud of our student leaders and grateful for their work!

In our work with Penn Sustainability, we rehomed almost 400 excess boxes of nitrile gloves from @pennengineering.bsky.social to outreach programs, teaching labs, and clinical/teaching spaces in Biology, @pennchemistry.bsky.social , Physics, and Penn Dental. See below to share your excess labware.

Tomorrow is the last chance during Earth Week events to learn about the freezer challenge to promote safer and more efficient freezer use. We'll be tabling in Chemistry from 11 - 1. For more information about Earth Week, check out: www.sustainability.upenn.edu/get-involved....

Ever wonder what aspects of the community EHRS impacts? Take a look at our 2024 annual report to learn more about what we do, who we serve, and how we can help you! ehrs.upenn.edu/ehrs-annual-...

The April FAQ Newsletter is up on our website addressing your questions about summer student protocols, chemical storage, and clearer guidance on alerting us in an emergency vs a non-emergent concern. Sample below - learn more here: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet...

A fantastic vacuum pump safety workshop yesterday from our partners at Chemtech with @pennchemistry.bsky.social! Games, prizes, and vacuum pumps galore! All this vacuum pump talk has us asking, has your lab replaced their oil mist filters recently?

On Friday, we partnered with the emergency response team for the Penn hospitals for a full-scale mass casualty exercise at Penn Presbyterian. The exercise gave wilderness medicine medical students a chance to learn from the pros. Always proud to work together to keep our communities safe!

Any Penn labs have spare new or like new glassware they no longer need? The Penn Sustainability Eco-Reps team is developing a database of available labware that future researchers may be able to "shop" from. Add to the inventory here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Last week, EHRS partnered with Airgas and @pennchemistry.bsky.social to host a Cryogen & Compressed Gas Safety Workshop. The sessions encouraged researchers and support staff to ask questions and learn how to safety engage with this critical equipment. Thanks to all who came out!

In partnership with Penn Sustainability, we helped facilitate the exchange of over 100 lbs of glassware between labs at Penn Dental and Penn Chemistry this week! Thanks to our partners at Penn Dental and @memccallum.bsky.social for their support of this work!

January FAQs are up on our website. Please check it out for the latest updates that may be impacting your lab's work: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet...

Our new incident reporting form is live and newly updated! Head to our site and download a pdf for your lab here: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet... This is a good time to bookmark the link in the QR code so it's easy to find in case you need it. Wishing everyone a safe return to classes!

Yesterday, our partners at Fire & Emergency Services and we put on the pilot program of First Aid in the Labs, an awareness program to help researchers navigate medical emergencies in labs. Special thanks to @pennmatsci.bsky.social and Chem and Biomolecular Eng for their support of the program.

As operations may be winding down for the upcoming university break, please take a moment to check our guidance for safeguarding your lab: ehrs.upenn.edu/announcement... Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season and a prosperous 2025!

Shipping a novel chemical? Cleaning out an old drawer of sparsely labeled chemicals? Check out our new resource using Green Chemistry solutions for EHS challenges to help guide your SDS development, correlating chemical structure to potential hazards: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet....

Have you checked your peroxide formers lately? For a list of peroxide formers and how to safely store them, check out: ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safet.... If it's been 3 months since they were opened, it's time to dispose of them! Image: Adobe stock

Our friends at Penn Sustainability held an Open House to share their Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 4.0! The event brought the campus together to focus on sustainability. To learn more about Green Labs, check out: sustainability.upenn.edu/get-involved...