We won first place in ASSE Region 2's OSH Independent Film Festival Contest!

I'm thrilled to share that our latest Sock Puppet Safety video, "Yay for Lab Safety!" won first place in the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Region 2 OSH Independent Film Festival. The video starred Piper Pangolin, Lemmy Lemur, and two friends.

Piper Pangolin, Industrial Hygienist for Mad Labs, sharing her love of safety!

Thanks to the judges of the contest for their encouraging votes! The Exceptional Spouse and I will use the prize money to fund our time and materials for more Sock Puppet Safety videos.

As a member of the Arizona Chapter of ASSE, the Industrious Hygienist was a speaker at the 2016 Arizona Health and Safety Summit that occurred this week. The session was titled "Do-it-Yourself Safety Data Sheets" and was part of the ASP/CSP preparation track. The breakout session presented by the Industrious Hygienist was written to provide attendees with the knowledge to review safety data sheets (SDS) for accuracy. It also taught attendees how to prepare labels for containers based off of a SDS that was *mostly* compliant with the requirements of the UN Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. The session discussed how to write and update a SDS, since some manufacturers are moving slowly on providing GHS-compliant SDS.

In the breakout session, we used a partially GHS-compliant SDS for a made-up chemical called "Wilburn Superflam 70%" to show attendees how to review an SDS for accuracy. 

SDS for Wilburn Superflam, 70% used in ASSE Arizona Health & Safety Summit (2016).

Using the SDS pictured above, the Industrious Hygienist showed attendees how to prepare a container label (like what would be provided by a manufacturer) using the GHS-compliant SDS. The example hazard communication label for Wilburn Superflam 70% is shown below. 

Example hazard communication container label for Wilburn Superflam, 70%.

Our next Sock Puppet Safety video(s) will probably be Piper Pangolin giving specific sections of the "Do-it-Yourself Safety Data Sheets" presentation, and teaching how to develop labels and review SDS. She'll be educating the internet on the chemicals shown in the "Yay for Lab Safety!" video: Wilburn Superflam 70%, Wilcorr Meltymess 25%, and Wilkil Allifes 15%. Watch for more fun and entertaining Sock Puppet Safety videos in upcoming months.

To an Educational and Exciting 2016 - Happy New Year!

Since each new year is supposed to bring a time of reflection and hope, I'm taking a look back at 2015 and making plans for 2016.

In 2015 I learned many interesting new things:

• I learned how to make and post a laboratory safety video featuring my Sock Puppet Safety team on YouTube, which won 3rd place at AIHce 2015's IH Fundance video competition.
• I learned what an exposome is.
• I facilitated a key issue roundtable on chemical disinfectants in healthcare facilities at Safety 2015 by the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) in Dallas, TX.
• In preparation for the key issue roundtable at Safety 2015, I co-authored a research article for the ASSE Industrial Hygiene Practice Specialty's web-based publication, The Monitor. 
• I learned a variety of new things at Safety 2015 in Dallas, and brought Piper Pangolin from Sock Puppet Safety to chronicle the adventure. 
• I researched occupational and environmental internships for graduate students.
• I learned about preventing Code Pink incidents in healthcare facilities.
• I figured out approximately how many hours of continuing education I complete every year, to maintain my various certifications.
• I found more spiffy spoggles to add to my collection of PPE. 

To commemorate the past year and embark on a new adventure, please enjoy this view of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix with the Industrious Hygienist and her fearless Alaskan Malamute, Shadow.

Happy New Year (2016) from The Industrious Hygienist!

In 2016 I am hoping to learn more about the following things:

• I'm studying for the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) exam and hope to take the exam in the first quarter of 2016.
• I'm co-authoring a technical paper and presentation on gender equity in occupational safety and health programs, to be presented at #Safety2016 in Atlanta, GA with Dr. Ilise Feitshans.
• I'm planning to apply to a doctoral program in safety, industrial hygiene, global health, or environmental health and will chronicle the experience.
• I'm researching where safety is "housed" within healthcare facilities across the U.S., to evaluate best practices and to assess how many safety professionals are needed based on the size and complexity of the facility.
• I'm working on more Sock Puppet Safety videos about chemical hygiene plans, incidental spill response, and will bring Piper Pangolin to #Safety2016.

I hope you continue to enjoy this blog, the art, and the nerdy safety videos. 

Lab Safety Video with Puppets - Courtesy of Oliver Berger

I came across this laboratory safety video by Oliver Berger while searching for my Sock Puppet Safety video on YouTube. I'm sharing it in the interest of science education puppet solidarity. 



It's pretty spiffy to see the kind of improved video quality you get when working with a team of semi-professionals with real sets. Here at Sock Puppet Safety, we're a nerdy husband and wife team with two iPhones and a cheap Canon FS40 video camera. So we're doing the best we can with the limited tech and time available. 

As a side note, we were going to term our sock puppets as "soppets" (because it makes sense), but it looks like there is already a YouTube video channel called "The Amazing Soppets." We haven't watched any of their videos yet. But we're on the hunt for a new term for our sock puppets. 

Cautionary Tales in Lab Safety - Extended Edition

The Industrious Hygienist has just posted the extended edition of "Cautionary Tales in Lab Safety," our #IHFundance third place winning video from AIHce 2015! 




We hope you enjoy the extended edition, which includes roughly 22 seconds of content we had to cut or shorten from the original video to meet the 2 minute time limit for #IHFundance.

We're working on more videos for 2016, including a short spill response training video, a video about Chemical Hygiene Plans for laboratories, and another general laboratory safety video. Thanks for watching and sharing Sock Puppet Safety!

We won! Thanks for voting in the #IHFundance Film Festival Competition!

Great news, loyal readers - 

Our Sock Puppet Safety video won THIRD PLACE in the IH Fundance Film Festival, held as part of the 2015 AIHce Conference. We're excited to use our winnings to make - you guessed it - more free safety training videos on YouTube featuring our adorable sock puppets!

We were excited to see the announcement from AIHA in the special edition of AIHA's E-ssential Connection:

Sock Puppet Safety won 3rd Place in the #IHFundance competition!

If you haven't already seen our awesome video, view it here: Cautionary Tales in Lab Safety

The first place award went to "Take Industrial Hygiene Home With You" by the industrial hygiene students at University of Michigan, and the second place award went to "Guardians of the Workers" by Jesse Zalk, the son of David Zalk, PhD, CIH. Congratulations to our fellow winners!

We'd also like to give our own Honorable Puppet Mention to the entry entitled "What Should I Be When I Grow Up?" by Kate Cole. 

Thanks again for voting and look for more videos in coming months featuring our team at Sock Puppet Safety (including a revelry-filled gag reel):

Sock Puppet Safety - Mad Labs Team: Piper Pangolin, Manny Macaw, Lemmy Lemur.

Upcoming topics include hazardous spill response, chemical inventories, eyewash testing, and other laboratory safety topics. We're working on other occupational safety scripts for general workplace safety as well - and are excited to collaborate with other Phoenix-area environmental health and safety specialists for later videos.

#IHFundance - Cautionary Tales in Lab Safety!

Greetings, loyal readers!

Please take 2 minutes out of your very busy day and check out "Cautionary Tales in Lab Safety," our first ever Sock Puppet Safety video on YouTube. This is a video submission for the IH Fundance Film Festival Contest at AIHce 2015 in Salt Lake City, UT.

The Industrious Hygienist will not be able to attend AIHce this year, but if you are going to the conference, please vote for my video! I promise to make more fun videos if we win. 

However, the Industrious Hygienist will be attending Safety 2015 in Dallas, TX in June. I hope to meet up with fellow safety and industrial hygiene nerds - I might even bring a puppet with me. If you're at Safety 2015, please also contribute to my roundtable at Session #625, "Safety Implications of Chemical Disinfectants in Healthcare." 

The roundtable is intended to discuss the following: "Healthcare associated infections represent a significant challenge to patient safety. To control this emerging threat, new chemicals and novel applications of existing chemicals are being marketed heavily to the healthcare industry. This roundtable will discuss challenges and attempt to build consensus on development of a proactive Health & Safety assessment model which balances staff and patient safety."

Wish us luck in the IH Fundance Film Festival! Vote for my puppets!

Leave us comments on YouTube if there are specific safety and industrial hygiene topics you'd like to see acted by our cadre of puppets.