Leader of the Band

importance of safety in the laboratories and facilities was not well-understood and appreciated then. Hence, the sleepless nights and sheep-counts.

“We started off knowing nothing because safety was not something that you must comply with then. There were no regulations we were actively engaged in enforcing,” Assoc Prof Sim added.

As the pioneers of academic safety in NUS Medicine, she and her committee painstakingly boned up on all standing safety guidelines and requirements as well as government regulations before they started work as the School’s safety champions.

Building the lab safety culture over time

Gradually, the committee also managed to stretch
the scope of their responsibilities further, developing a cohesive safety framework. Collectively, they work closely with researchers to maintain a positive safety culture. They assist Principal Investigators in seeking NUS Office of Safety, Health & Environment (OSHE)’s lab accreditation for managing research techniques and equipment and also provide hands-on training that complements OSHE’s online- based safety programmes. These sessions also provide safety pointers adapted to the specific needs of researchers based on OSHE’s guidelines.

“There was no good safety culture at the time. People were doing a lot of things incorrectly because they were not aware of the correct way to do things – of course everybody knew that we have to work safely, but how to work within the confines of safety regulations and to be safe was not established, and was not common knowledge to all,” Assoc Prof Sim explained.

Nowadays, thanks to their hard work, dangerous safety lapses are a distant memory, and the number of non-compliance cases are at an all-time low. Most of these are also minor infractions, such as the incorrect labelling of chemicals and improper donning of personal protection equipment (PPE). Asked if she had ever encountered any tricky incidents, inappropriate waste disposal was quickly highlighted.

“The mixing of incompatible chemical waste due to improper disposal can result in explosions,” said Assoc Prof Sim. Past incidents of improper waste disposal prompted OSHE to stipulate that all biological waste should be disposed of within three months. Subsequently, the Safety Committee took on the responsibility of waste management for all central research facilities in 2012, and have never looked back since.

Safety inspections by Assoc Prof Sim and the Safety Committee team take place throughout the year. They keep an eye out for potential areas of concern at the labs and facilities they visit. Inspections can sometimes take an entire month to complete.

“I think we have used safety, and integrated safety into facilities management and research laboratory design. It’s more of applied safety now because we have adapted it to the laboratory infrastructure,” Assoc Prof Sim said. Yet, it is safe to say that the integration of safety may have gone beyond facilities management and into their daily lives.

“Safety has become second nature at work and at home. It has come to a point where I am unconsciously inspecting fire extinguishers in shopping centres to see if they are being serviced!” said the former gǔ-zhēng player with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) in her formative years, and the only female member (also the youngest then) to play for the respected National Theatre Chinese Orchestra.

While she no longer participates in orchestral performances, the gǔ-zhēng still comes alive in her hands when she gives the occasional performance. These days, she also sleeps soundly at night.