Lab Safety Awareness Week
Save the Dates: February 9 - 13 2026
Join us for a week of Safety Events and resources!
Webinars—games/prizes—in person events—resources
Schedule of Events
Featured Live Webinars
Rate of Errors During Routine Biological Manipulations
Tuesday, February 10 @ 10 a.m.
Dr. Adam Fleming
Link: https://psu.zoom.us/j/99433356653?from=addon
Quantitative data informing biosafety practices have long been lacking. In this study, we describe the conduct of the first large-scale investigation into human reliability in the life sciences laboratory to estimate an error rate during routing biological experiments. (This presentation received the Richard C. Knudsen Award from ABSA International.)
Dr. Fleming is a senior consultant for Deloitte Consulting LLP, a Certified Biological Safety Professional, and holds a PhD in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He was one of two lead authors of the revision of the WHO Global Action Plan for Poliovirus Contamination and has designed and delivered biorisk management capacity building training and workshops to a variety of audiences in both high and low- and middle-income countries. He currently serves as a biorisk management subject matter specialist on a variety of projects for U.S. federal agencies and commercial clients. Prior to his work with Deloitte, he served as a biosafety officer and responsible official overseeing safety and compliance in BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories.
What is 5S and How Its Implementation leads to a safer and more productive laboratory
Tuesday, February 10 @ 1 p.m.
Dr. Jordan Meyet, PhD, MRI
Link: https://psu.zoom.us/j/93106276985?from=addon
The 5S initiative is a practical method for organizing and maintaining a safe, efficient, and clutter-free laboratory. Based on the principles of Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain, it helps ensure only necessary items are kept, materials are clearly arranged, spaces are clean, and consistent practices are followed. This approach supports safety, compliance, and good scientific practice. The presenter will provide an overview of how 5S can be applied in research labs.
Dr. Jordan Meyet is an Assistant Research Professor of Molecular Spectroscopy at the Materials Research Institute. He collaborates closely with students from various departments across the campus, as well as with industrial companies, to address scientific questions using UV-Vis, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopic techniques. He oversees the molecular spectroscopy shared laboratory at MCL and leads the 5S committee, which was established a few years ago at MRI. The implementation of 5S principles in both shared and academic labs has significantly enhanced productivity, workflow, and safety. Further information about his research is available here: https://www.mri.psu.edu/mri/personnel-directory/jfm6848
Daily Online Games and Prizes
Play safety games, win safety prizes! We'll have 4 types of online games available during Lab Safety Week. For each game you complete, you can send us a file as described below and in the game page for an entry into our prize drawing. You can complete each unique game once, and each one gets you an entry. We'll draw for prizes the games on February 16th.
- A daily Quordle (think "Wordle", but 4 at a time) that will change each day of Lab Safety Week. Send a screen-snip/shot of your completed game to psuehs@psu.edu for an entry each day.
- A daily Virtual Escape Room that will also change each day. Send a screen-snip/shot of your completed game to psuehs@psu.edu for an entry each day.
- One word search for the week - scan your completed word search and send it to psuehs@psu.edu for one entry
- One bingo card for the week - send your bingo card with the evidence it asks for (photos, documents) to psuehs@psu.edu for multiple entries. See the bingo card for details.
LAB SAFETY WEEK DAILY QUORDLE PUZZLES
What’s a Quordle? It’s like Wordle, the widely played game where you have six chances to guess a 5-letter word, but in Quordle you solve four words at the same time in nine tries. Try out our EHS-themed Quordles for entries into our prize drawing.
If you’ve never played Wordle or Quordle, instructions and helpful hints are here: https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Quordle
For an entry into our prize drawing, click the Quordle link below. When you solve the puzzle, take a screen-shot or snip to capture your victory (as shown in the image below), and email that image to psuehs@psu.edu. Please use a subject line of QUORDLE followed by the day of the week (“QUORDLE Monday”, for example). You may enter one Quordle entry per puzzle, and we’ll post a new Quordle puzzle each day from February 9-13. We’ll tabulate the entries and draw winners the following week.
LAB SAFETY WEEK DAILY VIRTUAL ESCAPE ROOMS
What’s a Virtual Escape Room? It’s an online version of the popular game in which you get locked into a room and have to solve puzzles to escape. In this case, the puzzles have you figure out what’s wrong in the room from a safety perspective. Each answer gets you a number, and those numbers give you a combination to the “lock” on the virtual room. If you get all the questions right, you get the right combination – and you escape the room. If you don’t get all the questions right, you get the wrong combination – and the lock won’t unlock. Unlike a standard quiz game, we’re not going to tell you whether each individual answer is correct, so you’ve got to keep at it until you get the right answers to unlock the door!
For an entry into our prize drawing, click the Virtual Escape Room link below. When you successfully solve the puzzle and escape the room, take a screen-shot or snip to capture your victory (as shown in the image below), and email that image from your @psu.edu email account to psuehs@psu.edu. Please use a subject line of ESCAPE followed by the day of the week (“ESCAPE Monday”, for example). You may send in one entry per puzzle, and we’ll post a new Virtual Escape Room puzzle each day from February 9-13. We’ll tabulate the entries and draw winners the following week.
Activities and Outreach Events at University Park
Monday, Feb. 9:
10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Steidle Building, 104 Atrium (Ground Floor)
Tuesday, Feb. 10:
10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building (Lobby)
Wednesday, Feb. 11:
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Huck Life Sciences Building (3rd Floor Bridge)
Thursday, Feb. 12:
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Chandlee Lab (1st Floor Lobby)
Friday, Feb. 13:
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Engineering Collaborative Research and Education Building (ECoRE) (1st Floor Lobby)
Activities and Outreach Events at Commonwealth Campuses
Monday, Feb. 9:
Beaver: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Brodhead Bistro (Lobby)
Tuesday, Feb. 10:
Altoona: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Science Building/Holtz Engineering Bldg. (Lobby)
12:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Force Advanced Technology Center
Behrend: 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. - Roche Hall (1st Floor Lobby)
12:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Burke Center (Clark Cafe)
Berks: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Leuerssen Science Building (2nd Floor)
Wednesday, Feb. 11:
DuBois: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Hiller Building (Cafe)
Harrisburg: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Science and Technology Building (2nd Floor Hall)
Harrisburg: 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Educational Activities Building North (1st Floor)
Scranton: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Dawson Building (2nd Floor)
Thursday, Feb. 12:
Greater Allegheny: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Student Community Center (Cafe Metro)
Hazleton: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Kostos Building
Mont Alto: 2 - 4 p.m. - Science & Technology Building (2nd Floor Hall)
York: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Elias Science Building (1st Floor Lobby)
Friday, Feb. 13:
Fayette: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Williams Building (Lower Lobby)
Tuesday, Feb. 17:
Abington: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Woodland Building (2nd Floor)
New Kensington: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Science Building (1st Floor Lobby)
Wednesday, Feb. 18:
Brandywine: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Main Building (3rd Floor)
Thursday, Feb. 19:
Shenango: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Great Hall
Schuylkill: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Classroom Building (1st Floor)
Special Thanks to Our Vendors
