Note: the August, 2019 version of the Periodic Table of the Elements of Safety is available at https://dev.dchas.org/2019/08/19/periodic-table-of-safety-elements-updated/
In celebration of the International Year of the Periodic Table, the Department of Environmental Health and Safety of Princeton University, led by Jim Sturdivant and Chelsea McDonnell (pictured above) and the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety developed a “Periodic Table of the Elements of Safety” to share with the chemistry community.
We believe that this layout of key lab hazards and safety management techniques in a familiar Periodic Table format can be an important teaching and reference tool for people as they conduct hazard assessments in the laboratory. It provides an overview of many of the elements these assessments should consider in an “at a glance” format.
This table also recognizes the elements of a chemical laboratory safety culture by identifying key innovators, leaders and victims of laboratory chemistry work over the history of laboratory science. We believe that an ongoing reminder that laboratory safety is both a technical and cultural challenge supports a generative safety culture described in the National Academy of Sciences report on Safe Science.
You can also explore the different sections of the table with this interactive “hot spot” graphic.
We realize that you may have questions, comments or ideas for improving our first version of this table. Please let us know what you think at membership@dchas.org
Excellent!! Thank you