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LSO Constitution

Contained in this section:

  • Mission Statement
  • Organizational Structure
  • Succession Process

Mission Statement

The mission of the Lab Safety Officers program is to advocate for laboratory safety at the graduate student level within the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.  Our objectives as a program are as follows:

  1. Treat laboratory safety in a preventative manner, catching problems before they occur,
  2. Serve as a centralized source of information for all chemistry laboratory related safety,
  3. Relay information between individual labs and the Departmental Safety Committee,
  4. Promote laboratory safety culture across all Department labs.

Organizational Structure

The LSO program consists of three member types, listed below.  Additional details for expectations of each  position can be found in the Roles, Responsibilities, and Benefits section.

  1. General LSO

Each lab in the department must have at least one active LSO at any time, and may have up to two co-LSOs.  Co-LSOs are helpful for a nearly-graduating/leaving LSO to train a new LSO for a year.  While LSOs are typically graduate students, postdocs, staff scientists, or PIs may also serve as their LSO.  LSOs are the backbone of the program and are the majority of members that drive the Mission Statement.

  1. Divisional LSO

Each division of the Department (Analytical, Biochemistry, Inorganic, Organic, and Physical) has one General LSO that serves the additional role of Divisional LSO.  Divisional LSOs attend divisional meetings, communicate with the Head LSO more frequently than LSOs, and provide perspective for their division’s specific lab safety needs. They also tend to their lab’s General LSO duties.

  1. Head LSO

The entire program must have one Head LSOs.  The Head LSO serves the entire program and is in charge of calling meetings (both general and leadership), relaying communication with the Departmental Safety Committee and Risk Management and Safety, delegating tasks to the Divisional LSOs, and creating new initiatives for the program. They also serve their lab’s General LSO duties.

  1. Program Advisor

At least one member of the Departmental Safety Committee serves to oversee the LSO Program. This member communicates with the Head LSO, and is the liaison for the Departmental Safety Committee. The current program advisors are Mary Prorok (mprorok@nd.edu) and Ken Kuno (mkuno@nd.edu).


All divisional and head LSOs serve as LSO for their own lab as well as their additional responsibilities.  While not a part of Risk Management & Safety, the LSO Program strives to maintain good communications with RMS to improve lab safety within the Department. 

Succession of LSO Leadership

General LSOs should transition during the departing LSO’s last Professional Development Award (PDA, for more info on PDA see Roles, Responsibilities, and Benefits) Period (i.e. if departing in May, transition should take place from January to May). Departing and successor LSOs are declared in the Roll Call for the transition period (i.e. January Roll Call if departing in May). During the transition period, the departing LSO and successor LSO should serve as co-LSOs to effectively transition duties. If the departing LSO is a co-LSO with a non-departing LSO, a successor LSO is not needed. There should be no transition periods of three LSOs for one lab group. The successor LSO will receive onboarding promptly after joining the program.

Divisional LSOs transitioning begins at least 6 months prior to departure of the current divisional officer. The departing LSO must fill out the Roll Call to document their plan for departure (i.e. July Roll Call if Departing in December). The departing LSO should poll the LSOs within their division for a successor. The successor LSO must be a current LSO to avoid violating the maximum of 2-LSOs per lab. Once a new LSO is found by the departing LSO, the process is as follows:

  1. The current LSO presents a successor candidate to the remaining divisional LSOs and head LSO for approval.
  2. Once approved, the departing LSO and successor LSO serve as co-divisional LSOs for the 6-months (PD Award Period) preceding departure
  3. The departing and successor co-divisional LSOs will work together over the next 6 months for transitioning duties.

Head LSOs must begin the process of finding a new Head LSO 12 months before they leave the Program.  Roll Call has a section where the Head LSO declares they will begin searching.  It is highly recommended that new Head LSOs are selected from the Divisional LSOs.  The process is as follows:

  1. The incumbent Head LSO calls a meeting (recommended to be in-person) with all Divisional LSOs. In the meeting, LSOs go through where the LSO program is at and where each LSO envisions it to be in the future (like a 5-year plan).  The Head LSO will ask if any Divisional LSOs are interested in becoming the new Head LSO.  At least one division LSO must be selected (if not, a search can be started in the general LSO body). 
  2. The incumbent Head LSO brings a list of interested candidates to the Program Advisor(s) and recommends a selected candidate. 
  3. The Program Advisor(s) makes the decision on who becomes the next Head LSO.  
  4. The incumbent and incoming Head LSOs work together over the next 12 months to transition duties over.

If any issues arise in which a Divisional or Head LSO is not fulfilling their duties or adversely affecting the Program, any and all LSOs are encouraged to contact the Program Advisor(s) and meet to discuss solutions.  The Program Advisor(s) hold the power to remove any LSO from the Program at any time.