Involve every staff member in some aspect of the safety program and give each a specific responsibility. There's a tendency to think that if someone is appointed safety coordinator, they have to do all the work for the rest of us. False! A coordinator is just that. He or she is not a "parent." Each person needs to be responsible for safety in general and for a specific part of the program in particular. Here's a list of a number of different specific assignments:

• Bottle gas cylinders
• Chemical inventory
• Highly toxic compounds
• Heavy metals
• Emergency response
• Pyrophorics
• Reference materials
• Oxidizers
• Alcohol inventory
• Acids and bases
• Fire equipment
• Refrigerators
• Flammables storage
• Showers and eye washes
• Specimen storage
• Electrical hazards
• Accident records
• In-service training

Get the idea? Everyone has a job to do. Everyone participates. Take turns doing a monthly lab inspection. Take turns presenting a 5-10 minute safety topic at department meetings.

The best safety programs are the ones that get everyone most involved.