Hello Folks

I'm looking for a training course to send someone on to become a Chemical Safety Officer. We've had folk do very good training for Biological Safety Officers but the chemical training I'm finding online seems to be more general COSHH awareness stuff.

The trainees would already be experienced scientists.

Any recommendations?

Hi ttxela

This is a good question after all there are lots of training courses for Biological safety officers, laser safety officers, radiation protection supervisors etc. I checked the Institute of Safety in Technology and Research(ISTR) web site, and they mentioned all of these types of safety officer  except for the chemical safety officer. One reason is that  for many employers COSHH( the chemicals bit) boils down looking at the SDS and following the manufacturers instructions. You don’t need in depth knowledge to prepare cleaning products or to mix a two part adhesive, just basic COSHH awareness. But there are people who need more but that then brings us to the second issue which Peter touched on: what scope is required? You say that the people you want to train up are “experienced scientists”. I have seen such scientists almost kill themselves doing something stupid. They often do not have the right mindset or breadth of knowledge. They will know all about their favourite reagents but will not understand things outside their focus, for example what about DSEAR and how to handle flammable or explosive substances. What about substances that are Controlled Drugs or drugs precursors or listed under the chemical weapons convention?