Learning opportunities in three years of hazmat headlines

The development of Internet-based electronic information tools has enabled new opportunities to understand the chemical safety needs of a variety of workplaces. The work reported here used Google's Reader service over a period of 3 years to catalog over 5300 public hazmat responses and 533 laboratory-related incidents. These incidents are organized according to various parameters to help assess the number, type and magnitude of hazmat events which reach the popular press. Events of particular interest for development of lab safety training programs are events in laboratory settings. The challenges and opportunities for using this information are discussed, from both a practical and a systems perspective.