Collaborative Audits as a Tool for Increasing Safety Awareness

Educators that are closest to the students, such as lab instructors and research advisers, primarily influence academic safety culture.Since individual departments control both curriculum and enforcement of initiatives directly to the staff and faculty, the academic department can also play a pivotal role in a safety culture.Departmental led initiatives such as the collaborative audit can lead to increased cooperation among students, student clubs, faculty, staff, and environmental health and safety.The design of this cooperative audit allowed peer-to-peer education and interaction among graduate and undergraduate students.Results from a feedback survey indicated that the intra-departmental audit achieved a positive effect on student safety knowledge and confidence level.An interesting outcome was the change in attitude toward the primary barrier to a safety culture within the department after audit participation.