An aspect of laboratory safety that is often lacking at research
universities is the emphasis of safe practices in undergraduate
science curricula. In 2017, EHS staff at the University of
Nevada–Reno performed assessments for the first time of more than
90 undergraduate Chemistry Department laboratory course sections.
Rather than using the resulting data to simply enforce regulatory
compliance, the focus was instead on recognizing those who already
excel at motivating safety, resulting in the creation of the
“Safest Teaching Assistant” award.