Train and train some more

EDITORIAL

Train and trainsome more

I f there is one thing that my col-leagues will never accuse me of itis a lack of sensitivity to training. I

don’t think that one can ever have toomuch training.

I am rarely maudlin regarding myexperience as a chemical and radiationsafety officer in the United Statesnuclear navy. (Whenever I get too sen-timental, Marci, my wife, alwaysreminds me of the 18-hour days spentin the engineering section, and three-section duty rotation while in port!)However, there is one thing the Navyalways did right – training. Whether itwas emergency response or leadershipskill building, both officers andenlisted were always training. Granted,three or four hours per work week maybe too much for the corporate world;still, there is something to be said aboutcontinuing to build one’s skills.

If you supervise others, you have aninherent obligation to ensure youremployees are working safely. Part

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doi:10.1016/j.jchas.2006.01.001

of meeting that obligation is to ensurethat you have properly communi-cated the workplace hazards. Simplyput, your employees need to knowand understand the hazards of thematerials with which they work andthe hazards inherent to the operationthat they perform. Furthermore, ifyou’re not going to inform them (orcaused them to be informed), whowill?

Every spring season brings with itnew training opportunities offered byorganizations such as the AIHA andACGIH at their semiannual confer-ences. This spring, the AICHE willbe held in Chicago, Illinois duringthe week of May 13th and will beoffering many ‘‘Professional Develop-ment Courses’’ or PDCs that are veryapplicable to the chemical safety pro-fessional. Their fall conference, PCIHwill be held in San Jose, Californiaduring the week of September 16th.More information can be foundat www.aiha.org/Content/CE/aihce/aihce.htm.

Organizations such as the Labora-tory Safety Institute (LSI) is continuallyoffering courses that interesting and

� Division of Chemical Health

topically important to chemical safetyprofessionals. See www.labsafety.orgfor more information.

Your division always offers a num-ber of professional development pro-grams at national meetings. DivCHASis also starting to offer specific pro-grams at regional meetings, and, in2006, is sponsoring programming ata number of these regional meetings.Check out the DivCHAS webpageat http://membership.acs.org/c/chas/for more information.

From my perspective, if you’re‘‘stuck in the 90s’’ in terms of yourchemical safety information, it’s timeto refresh your knowledge and getonboard with the current best prac-tices. I encourage everyone to take aprofessional development course thisyear.

Harry J. Elston

and Safety of the American Chemical Society 3Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.