Rank: Forum user 
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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?
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi ttxela
Your thread has been read over 70 times but with no reply, so I will try to get the conversation moving. What do you actually means by a Chemical Safety Officer? As until you can decide on that it is unlikely that you could work out what might be appropriate training. You gave the comparison with a Biological Safety Officer (which might not be the title that some organisations would choose). But the training for such a person would vary depending on the nature of the risks - both in type and level so that e.g. more training might be needed for someone working in Cat 4 pathogen laboratories than for a person working in a veterinary practice. AND in each case whether the risks are from chemicals or biological hazards, what is appropriate may vary depending on how much the employer (or other primary duty holder) is reliant on delegating tasks to their "Safety Officer(s)".
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 1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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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?
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2 users thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks Both I think the intention is to have a member of our safety committe who is particularly focussed on chemical safety, able to oversee the general COSHH process and perhaps assist with issues that come up when COSHH assessment etc. are being completed, lead on incident investigations where chemicals are the major factor etc. We've trained Biological Safety officers and were looking for something similar for chemical safety. All I've found are general COSHH awareness courses which seem the sort of thing that a wider body of staff should do.
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Rank: Forum user
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I suppose what I am looking for is something akin to the COSHH element of the NEBOSH diploma as a stand alone.
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Rank: Forum user 
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The Health and Safety Laboratory in Buxton (part of HSE) do a COSHH Practical Assessment and Control course. We found it suitable for a "Champion" to then support others in assessing and managing risks.
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