The Research Safety Culture Program is receiving a national award for a webpage to assist with onboarding and training researchers at CSU.
The Research Safety Culture Program — an initiative that includes an interactive website and videos designed to promote safety and compliance across the Colorado State University research landscape on and off campus — is receiving a prestigious national award.
CSHEMA — Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association — is awarding the Research Safety Culture Program the Marketing – Single Media Award for the Research Safety Orange Folder, an interactive resource designed to assist with onboarding and training researchers at CSU. CSHEMA is a national organization for environmental, health and safety professionals in higher education.
The Research Safety Orange Folder was developed by Research Safety Culture Coordinator Anthony Appleton, Communications and Events Manager Lauren Klamm and Web and Content Specialist Emma Mannino. They will receive the award on July 26 at the CSHEMA Virtual Conference.
“This award confirms that research safety takes a village – from researchers discussing their needs to research support being easily accessible to open communication leading to collaboration – the Research Safety Orange Folder required people from across Colorado State University,” Appleton said. “In the end, I believe we created a resource that is the manifestation of our Principles of Community, at least from a research safety perspective.”
Lauren Klamm, Anthony Appleton and Emma Mannino from the Office of the Vice President for Research, with three awards the office recently won from the Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association.
Removing barriers
Work on the project started in Spring 2019 and became a useable resource by Spring 2020. Appleton said the fact that its release coincided with COVID’s effects on research made its impact especially critical.
“Anyone, anywhere, could, for the first time, help themselves or others to determine what research safety and compliance training they needed using one webpage for all safety and compliance needs for any researcher at CSU,” he said. “Improving culture through convenience leads to compliance.”
Appleton explained that the webpage has helped to remove barriers to access and has significantly reduced researcher burden. With ease, researchers now have access to onboarding, compliance training, safety training, reporting safety mechanisms, and all research support contact information on one webpage.
“Importantly, this webpage makes Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Resources an integral part of every researcher’s experience at CSU,” he said. “Science has a responsibility to advance these ideals.”
The Research Safety Culture Program was launched in 2019, through the Office of the Vice President for Research. Since its founding, the program has helped to change researchers’ and administrators’ perceptions of compliance and safety.
The Research Safety Culture Program’s website includes more than a dozen videos to promote safety and compliance in labs on campus. In 2020, CSHEMA awarded the website its first-place award for Marketing Campaign as well as second place for Innovation – Safety Culture.
Learn more
Check out the award-winning videos as well as the website by visiting research.colostate.edu/research-safety-culture.
