The UTK Department of Environmental Health & Safety established a Lab Safety Culture Awards Subcommittee at the beginning of 2023. The goal is to promote positive change to safety culture in UT labs. For the third quarter, the awards theme explored lab onboarding processes that foster and promote lab safety culture. Applicants for the award shared the onboarding process in their labs and how those processes emphasize the importance of lab safety from day one for new members to the lab.

Quarter 3 awards were announced in October, and first place went to Kendhl Seabright, Research Associate in the labs of Professors Harper and Taylor at the Center for Renewable Carbon, and the School of Natural Resources.