Eviner Lab Wins Grand Prize in Campus-level Lab Safety Awards

Each year, more than 980 UC Davis laboratories participate in the lab safety review program, run by the office of Environmental Health and Safety.

This year’s grand prize-winning lab is led by Valerie Eviner, ecosystem ecologist and professor in the Department of Plant Sciences. Her research focuses on restoration ecology, including how plant ecosystems recover from wildfires, invasive plants and livestock grazing.

The team in the Eviner lab works in a wide variety of sites, including remote grasslands, riparian systems, agricultural fields, greenhouses, a chemical lab and a soil lab on campus. All members of the lab regularly engage in field research — including up to 10 undergraduate students who rotate through the lab each year. 

Eviner herself models that there are days when you might need a break, encouraging lab members to prioritize human safety.

“With every new member of the lab, on our first field days, I fake a need to take a break, due to heat or tiredness, modeling that it is important to take breaks as needed,” Eviner said. “Heat is something where our dose response is different from day to day, and lab members who are more junior might feel less comfortable calling a time out.”

She also maintains a lending library of necessary field gear, to help make sure all lab members are safe and comfortable. 

“We make it clear that the success of our research relies on us looking out for each other, regularly communicating, following protocols, and looking for ways to improve safety and adjust,” Eviner said.

Preparing for field visits requires they go beyond usual protocols of safety to prepare for a wide variety of potential hazards — weather, wildlife, road conditions, fire potential, livestock, tripping hazards and plant hazards. During the rainy season, her team has driven around a bend to find the road blocked by a fresh landslide. Conversely, in the dry season when wildfire risk is high, they sometimes plan field visits strategically for an easier exit as the day heats up. 

They also take care with safety protocols as environmental stewards, to avoid introducing something new or invasive as they move plants, soil, seeds and potentially microbes between California locations.

Supporting a 'Safety Culture'

The Eviner lab is among six recognized for top-notch safety practices across campus this year. The winners earned near-perfect annual Lab Safety Review scores, plus additional points through extra-credit questions and surveys.

"When you have a safety culture, there is a thriving understanding of the logic and the why, and you have buy-in from your team," said Veronica Thron, research safety manager with Environmental Health and Safety, who organizes the Lab Safety Awards. “A good safety culture can also become self-sustaining.”

Each college or school presents a $1,000 cash prize cash to their winning lab. The grand prize winner earns an additional $5,000 given by Safety Services and the Office of Research, plus the UC Davis Lab Safety Award trophy. 

Lab Safety Awards will be presented by UC Davis leaders during an event on Thursday, Oct. 22.

To learn the winning secrets of other top labs on campus, read the full story here.