2017 CBE Safety Olympics

The second annual CBE Safety Olympics took place on September 15, 2017. The goal of the event is to promote a strong safety culture within the department by improving awareness of safety actions, attitudes and behaviors. The committee (which includes lab safety officers from all research groups and representatives from Cornell's Environmental Health and Safety Office) organized engaging safety disciplines including: 'first responder' CPR training, a fire extinguishing exercise and a safety ‘obstacle course’. As part of the obstacle course, the participants were confronted with a role-playing exercise in which they had to confront a ‘belligerent postdoc’ with apparent disregard for safe lab practices (acted by one of the lab safety officers). This exercise trained students in effectively communicating safety concerns to others in the laboratory.

The closing ceremony of the event was marked by a safety speech by Gary Horvath (Safety & Laboratory  Services Supervisor at the Boyce Thompson Institute) followed by the departmental mixer which included a jeopardy-style safety quiz and the award ceremony for winning teams. The gold, silver, and bronze price went to the Steen/Tester/Wiesner, Engstrom/Varner, and Joo  team, respectively. Thanks to all the lab safety officers, staff, students and faculty for making the 2017 Safety Olympics a success. If you have suggestions and comments for events to feature in next years event, please contact your lab safety officer.