What are the best ways to promote safety and quality in your R&D lab?

In my experience safety and lab quality go hand in hand since both benefit from a continuous improvement team mindset. Establishing processes that regularly audit for safety and quality enables to develop lists of actions to make the lab more performant. Ultimately technicians should develop their skills to track any safety or quality issue on the spot, e.g. take 2 minutes to analyze a task and make a quick risk assessment prior to test or prepare any sample.

Laboratory safety is often not given the right priority or enough importance with a misconception that owing to the relatively lower volume of the components being handled and lower energy being contained, safety risks are minimal. This has been proven wrong time and again. Several instances of laboratory safety incidents have been reported in the literature. Hence, it is imperative that enough time and resources are spent with the process safety experts for understanding the risks and their mitigations before embarking on lab-scale experiments. Develop and follow the processes rigorously and develop a mindset of safety first!

Lead by example. Always demand safety first and practice it yourself. Use audits, safety meetings etc and always try to improve. If the owner of the company wants to go through your lab, require them to follow your safety guidelines. If you don't have the guts to tell the owner, you should not be managing in the first place.

First of all, any R&D should have rich composition science enthusiasts. Unless these heads yield dedicated efforts doing defined but innovative research, any plans in R&D will fail. Choose the right working population, right hierarchy of management and freedom of expression and sharing without boundaries and restrictions are base essential for a corail work environment. Management and Finance, should be supportive and flexible for Regular and immediate needs of r&d activities. Improvise overtime towards the 🥅.

R&D labs tend to little disorganized under the grab of being innovative.. Safety starts as utmost priority in all labs with detailing of each operation including handling of key raw materials such as pharmaceuticals ingredients, fragrances, flavors, hair colors , solvents under special conditions .This followed by then storage of same under appropriate storage conditions to avoid contamination and stable shelf life . Quality starts from right understanding of purpose of the various protocols , qualified materials and methods including data recording and traceability

Most of the labs I have worked in have stringent safety regulations. With weekly safety internal audits to monthly audits by safety committee and annual or biannual audits by external agencies. This keeps the risks involved at bay and ensures that personnel working in lab are aware of the risks involved and are always alert to any near risks or near misses also to avoid any major mishap from happening

Training on safety is the heart of the R&D processes. Train train train... Everybody involved. People in R&D, employees, contract workers, interns, even vendors or equipment handling people, discard workers... All have to know the safety signs and procedures to be used in the place they work. Even an error from a single person can affect the entire R&D. Use of local languages, frequently communicating with all the personnel involved with the latest updates will help in the long run.

Promoting a culture of safety and quality starts with empowering your team through continuous education and training. It's not just about a one-time training session but regular drills and workshops can keep safety protocols top of mind. Be open-mind, ask your team what they want and how they can implement what they need. Actively seeking and integrating staff feedback into these processes can not only enhance compliance but also boost morale, making them feel valued and part of the safety culture you aim to cultivate. This proactive approach to staff development is a cornerstone of maintaining high standards in any forward-thinking R&D lab.

I think "knowledge" is the keyword here. Everyone involved in a process should be aware not only of what the requirements are, but why they exist. Only through comprehension we can be sure not to overlook safety and quality aspects.

Training should be mandatory for each new staff before he start working in the Lab. Each lab should have its own safety standards defined and displayed in front of it.Preparing check list for each guidelines will be useful as it ensures the safety guidelines are followed.

Concise summary of the key points regarding the design and maintenance of R&D facilities and equipment: 1. Adequate Space, Ventilation, Lighting, and Security: - Ensure your lab has ample space for research activities, proper ventilation for hazardous materials, sufficient lighting for clear vision, and robust security measures to protect sensitive equipment and data. 2. Suitable, Reliable, and Calibrated Equipment: -Employ equipment that aligns with your research needs, operates dependably, and undergoes regular calibration to maintain accuracy and precision. 3. Regular Inspection, Cleaning, and Maintenance

Designing and maintaining R&D lab facilities and equipment is crucial for ensuring safety and quality. Implement smart sensor technologies, such as IoT devices, to monitor environmental conditions like temperature, humidity, and air quality in real-time. Utilize predictive maintenance algorithms powered by machine learning to detect equipment failures before they occur, minimizing downtime and ensuring uninterrupted operations. Employ 3D printing technology to rapidly prototype custom lab equipment and fixtures, optimizing workflow efficiency. Regularly conduct facility inspections and audits using drones equipped with cameras and sensors to identify potential hazards and ensure compliance with safety regulations.

Scheduled maintenance is fundamental. Also, having several staff members trained in callibration and validation of all equipment avoids many common issues. Remember the poka-yoke!

El diseño de las instalaciones es fundamental. Significa establecer un plan para el uso del espacio. Significa imaginar la distribución de las operaciones del laboratorio. Significa evitar interferencias que afecten mis resultados. Significa trabajar en un espacio agradable Los equipos de laboratorio son nuestras herramientas de análisis. Nuestros resultados y nuestra seguridad dependen de que se encuentren en buenas condiciones de funcionamiento, de su mantenimiento periódico, de su higiene. Las calibraciones y mantenimientos nos permiten verificar su buen estado regularmente.

It is a good practice that in a laboratory, each person has specific responsibilities. It is crucial to regularly clean and ensure the proper functioning of the instruments. Closing the instruments at the end of the day not only enhances their lifetime but also contributes to long-term safety. If any irregularities are observed, reporting them to a higher authority ensures that everything is kept in check.

Despite that a lot of people think processes for R&D are not suggested since it takes time to document and not for s vlaue for a prototype, I believe that a good structure form the beginning of the R&D project by following a detailed process that involves clear steps and traceability between results, implementation up till requirements is of a great value. Not only for the R&D project, but also for all other stakeholders during the project or later after having the results. System engineering is great way of achieving good communication, documentation and traceability. The most important part would be transferring the results in a good way for late work in the project (series development)

Los resultados de cada paso de la investigación deben estar bien documentados y almacenados de una forma fácil de encontrar, no sólo para el que realizó la tarea sino para todo el equipo. Aparte de las conclusiones, los comentarios serán de mucha utilidad: no hay mejor observación sino de quien hizo el experimento.

One can stress the need for clear instructions as much as possible, and even so overlook a variable that just "seems obvious". That's because we may give comprehensive documentation on everything to be done, but not on what not to be done (as the possibilities are infinite). Documentation is key. Specially upon integration of new team members that, by having an external view of the processes in place, may notice a variable that an experienced worker would disregard.

Documenting data, safety procedures, and implemented changes in the laboratory is always essential. This practice ensures a comprehensive record that can be accessed whenever needed. Additionally, having well-documented information allows for effortless sharing when required, preventing the loss of any crucial details.

Establish regular forums, such as team meetings or project reviews, to discuss findings and receive feedback, promoting a collaborative and learning-oriented environment. Implement version control systems for documents to track revisions and changes accurately. Additionally, invest in secure data storage solutions and encryption methods to safeguard confidential information. Consider adopting electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) for real-time data recording and seamless collaboration. These tools not only enhance accessibility but also contribute to the traceability and reproducibility of experiments. Furthermore, integrate data visualization techniques to present complex findings in a clear and understandable manner.

You will find there are people in labs who may not necessarily be interested in being a bench scientist their entire career. They might be interested in more of a managerial or administrative position. A lab supervisor; someone interested in PM. These people can be your allies; recruit them to be your safety coordinator; to help you with self-audits; developing training, etc.

Improve Practices: 1. Review & assess: Regularly audit safety, quality, and identify improvements. 2. Embrace feedback: Actively gather feedback from staff and stakeholders. 3. Celebrate & learn: Recognize achievements, analyze failures for improvement. 4. Continuous improvement: Implement corrective actions and invest in technology. 5. Safe & collaborative: Foster open communication, teamwork, and training. 6. Prioritize quality: Implement rigorous methodologies and data integrity. 7. Ethical & diverse: Promote responsible research conduct and inclusion.

Define an audit guide/checklist to monitor the safety and quality in the lab. Have a plan to regularly execute this audit. There can be a standard auditor to guide the process but try to have a dynamic audit team so that you can share many perspectives and include all stakeholders. Have a changing team member and somebody external to the team so that they are not biased by being used to a situation. Join several audits as manager to see what lives and to promote safety and quality. Use team meetings to talk about the findings, celebrate improvements and what is good. Think about actions for improvements. Create an open culture were everyone can share accidents, incidents and near-misses, awareness is already created, action can follow.

By intergrating below methods, the team can cultivate an encironment that prioritizes innovation, continuous improvement and excellence 1. Maintain a dynamic list of project goals, hyotheses, experiements and projects; be transparant on the KPIs and scopes. 2. Break down the R&D work into manageable time-boxed iterations. 3. Daily standup: Enhance each team's ownership and accountability; encourage every team member to discuss progress, challenges, and next steps; encourage different persectives and innovation solutions. 4. Review: hold reviews, gathering feedback and adjust priorities. 5. Reflection: reflect on what went well, what went wrong, and how the processes can be improved in the future.

Promoting safety and quality is all about making the R&D process safer. Using the PSM process in a way that reviews the safety of the developing process is important. As analytical is used in the development of the process, it is important to review the results and develop robust methods that are documented. Lab notebooks are important for this

Ensure there are clear expectations and supporting systems as visual as possible. Leadership must walk the walk and be routinely present and invest in people and relationships. Show that you care and your team will follow.

Promoting safety and quality in an R&D lab hinges on fostering an understanding management culture that appreciates the time-intensive nature of research and development. It’s crucial to align expectations and deadlines with the intricate R&D process. Unrealistic timelines contribute significantly to lower safety and quality. Particularly in new product development, expecting R&D projects to adhere strictly to traditional waterfall project management, with predefined outcomes and milestones, can be counterproductive. Flexibility and realistic timelines are key to fostering a safe and high-quality R&D environment.

Policies and documents for consideration: -Chemical Hygiene Plan - overall details on stating hazards, how to handle hazards, hazard assessments per project, important resources of information around any identified hazards -Emergency Action Plan (plan for an emergency? a fire? a chemical spill? a biological or radiation emergency? (OSHA has a tool to create one!) -Sanitation policy - do you work with something people or animals will consume? do you work with chemicals that could make people sick? How do you clean between projects and workflows? -Nearest Healthcare Facility - in an urgent need or workplace injury that does not require emergency services on site everyone should know where to go for medical treatment or occupational injuries

For those who work in the chemical and biochemical laboratories, I urge you to become familiar with a book titled: Organic Chemistry Laboratory Techniques written by Dr. Herbert O. House, Ph.D., compiled while he was employed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and given to every student and staff member that he employed thereafter. It is an excellent reference for the safe practice of chemistry.

Quality doesn't happen without safety. Those two things have tight connection. If we work in the R&D lab, without taking care about safety, so how come the quality could be done. Safety always comes first before we do any task in the lab.