Yes an old chestnut to those of us working in scientific research laboratories. However after many years working in the pharmaceutical industry where it was mandatory to wear a lab coat and safety glasses when you entered a laboratory and you did, I find myself back in academia where the majority of researchers haven't, as a norm, worn lab coats, etc, ever. So aren't very keen to start now. The Director is luke warm to the idea but I suspect in the back of his mind his conscience is pricking him especially as it is a directive from the corporate safety department. We have risk assessments that say lab coats and glasses are part of a standard control but it is often ignored, mainly as individuals don't feel all of their lab work justifies wearing them, which is true. If I'm to achieve my goal then I need to have a good justification in their eyes.
So my question: what have people tried in the past to overcome this behaviour? Any behaviour programmes out there that would address these issues that have been tried and tested on academics? What has worked well and what hasn't? Can anybody point me to suitable reference material? Thank you in anticipation.

Back in my day, wheeze, cough, wheeze, wearing a white coat was a status symbol, separated you from the storekeepers (brown) and the maintenance (blue). Mind you "staff" ie qualified, always wore clean, fresh lab coats. Ours, lowly technicians, were always a bit tatty. And there was some pride in that. As there was for the different chemical dye stains on your hands (alizarin blue, phenolpthalein pink)

Reallyreally senior staff were so exalted they didn't need status symbols, just wore suits and ties.

No safety glasses, shoes or gloves. No face masks, fume hoods or extraction.

I do still remember the memorial plaque on the wall of my very first lab. "died in faithfull pursuit of his duties"

I think he was said to have pipetted pasturella pestis (plague) though it might have been botulinum.

I only caught whooping cough.

Happy days

Merv

When I get depressed about our labs I pay a visit to a university. This cheers me up no end as far a facilities go. The safety culture is also much weaker. I think that most universities still have a very devolved approach to management with departments and faculties working as independent fiefdoms often with their own local Safety officers. These guys do their best but many are still not full time H&S bods and they tend to be very good at the own speciality ( COSHH , GMO, radiation) but often miss out the more generic stuff like manual handling, DSE . They also tend to identify to closely with the work; don’t really have an independent view so tolerate behaviours like not wearing lab coats etc.

Jane
In theory in each lab someone should sit down and decide (based on a risk assessment) who needs to wear what PPE when. This is a council of perfection.
If you are dealing with anything other than the most benign chemicals I would recommend that staff wear safety glasses and labcoats. Not only to protect themselves (and their clothing) but also to stops them spreading the chemical reagents and possible bioagents around the site. When I started my current job it was not unusual to see people in the canteen wearing lab coats!
Interestingly it was the microbiologists who took wearing labcoats the most seriously and the chemists who tended to be the most lax.