Decked out in custom t-shirts and homecoming court sashes, the EHS team offered interactive exhibits in chemical, biological and radiation safety, a photo booth, a match-the-pet-and-owner game, eye safety information and “bling out your goggles” craft table. We were joined by Public Safety, whose fire safety exhibit was very popular—though not as popular as Coach, the DPS service dog, who roamed the hall pausing for head pets, photos and tail wags.

Also on hand with product demos and useful information were safety supply vendors and service providers including Cintas, Fisher Scientific, AirGas, Eton Bioscience, Grainger, TakaRa and Trestle Tree. The lunch was sponsored by BioRaft.

Mary Beth Mulcahy presented a virtual talk, “When You Hear Hoof Beats, Think... Horses? Zebras?” to a group gathered in McDonnell Hall and dialing in remotely. Mulcahy, whose presentation focused on recognizing risk in ordinary situations, is a member of the Global Chemical and Biological Security (GCBS) group at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM and a former investigator with the National Chemical Safety Board (NCSB).

Mulcahy used personal anecdotes and examples from her work investigating chemical accidents to demonstrate that we too often focus on unlikely risks (“zebras”) at the expense of working to alleviate more ordinary dangers (“horses”). One notable NCSB investigation revealed a risk assessment done by a manufacturer that accounted for an airplane flying into the facility, but not for the release of flammable gas—the actual cause of a fatal incident.  

“This idea that we can control the horses, I think it sometimes leads us astray in safety,” she told attendees.