The COVID-19 Resources tab has been updated! This page now contains procedures from the Department of Chemistry on returning to research activities and a letter from outgoing Department Head Martin Gruebele and incoming Department Head Catherine Murphy expanding on these procedures. This page also contains the anonymous reporting form so any violations to these procedures can be reported. These submissions will be regularly communicated to and reviewed by the Chemistry Department.

If you have any questions or concerns about these procedures, the anonymous reporting form, or other information on the COVID-19 Resources tab please contact the JST board at chemsafety@illinois.edu!

Check out the COVID-19 resources tab on the JST homepage! This tab contains information on where to find the DRS COVID-19 training, other training and resources related to COVID-19 from DRS, and information on how to safely conduct essential research during this time. Information on this page will be updated as it becomes available.

Due to the current situation, the JST is postponing our annual Safety Week that typically takes place in mid-May. Some events are being postponed to a later date. Please stay tuned for more details!  Continue to stay safe and healthy everyone!

Is there any important safety information you wished you had known when you joined a lab? Do you have any suggestions about how to improve the current safety exam?

JST is looking for graduate student volunteers to participate in a working group on updating the SCS Safety Exam. Volunteers will be asked to provide comments and suggestions on making the safety exam more applicable and relevant for our department. If you’ve ever had any thoughts on important safety information you had wished you had known when you came here and joined your lab, now is the time to contribute!

Please fill out the form here if you are interested!

The JST needs your help!

It’s time for fall TA training. In our efforts to improve the safety culture in the Chemistry Department we are assisting with training the incoming graduate students and undergrad Lab TA’s for the upcoming semester.

During this training, graduate student volunteers will “role-play” as students that do not follow standard lab rules (shorts in the lab, no safety goggles, etc.). The TA’s will have to identify the problem and intervene in the appropriate way. Afterwards, the graduate student volunteers will give feedback to the trainees.

We hope that this training session helps the lab TA’s feel more comfortable in a position of authority. This will improve communication between TA and student and help to mitigate potential incidents throughout the semester. Plus, it should be fun for graduate students to be the “bad students”, so please sign-up!

Wednesday, August 28th, 5:30-7:30 PM, 1006/1007 Chem Annex

Tuesday, September 3rd, 5:00-6:00 PM, 1006 Chem Annex

Thursday, September 5th, 5:00-6:00 PM, 1006 Chem Annex

Pizza and pop will be available for all volunteers, plus we will be giving away JST merchandise! The training will take about 45 minutes and the rest of the time is for pizza.

Sign up here!

If you are interested in improving safety, working with us, meeting new people, or improving your leadership skills, please get involved!

Please fill out this application if you are interested: JST Leadership Application

The application will be open to all graduate students and post-docs until Friday July 12th.

Please see the attached document for the new enrollment process for the Safety Exam. Students will now be able to register themselves through Compass

Enrolling in SCS Safety Exam

Please see the attached flyer for all of our Safety Week events. We hope to see you at them!

2019_Safety Week_Flyer

The Photon1 van will be visiting on May 6th to share laser safety products and practices. The van will be parked on the North Quad (just South of Beckman), on May 6th from 10:00 – 2:00 pm. Please stop by if you deal with lasers! Please see flyer for more information: PhotonVan

We will be holding a Standard Operating Procedure workshop with the help of DRS.

When: Thursday, January 31st

Where: Noyes 165

The goal of this workshop is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and resources to efficiently create quality SOPs, it will consist of two parts.

The first part will be a presentation/discussion on SOP basics, their requirements, and risk assessments. This part will go from 1:00 pm to approximately 2:00 pm. 

The second part will be an opportunity for students to create a SOP or update an existing SOP with the help of DRS and JST (Students may come for just the 1^st part). If you do plan on participating in the second part and creating/updating a SOP, please bring your laptop or the printed SOP. This part will start around 2:00 pm and go until 3:00 pm.

Please email chem-safetyteamchair@mx.uillinois.edu with any questions.