The Lab Safety Gurus
Discover the secrets to enhancing laboratory safety without the hassle of navigating complex regulations and modifying established practices.
Tune in to the enlightening discussions led by the knowledgeable Dan the Lab Safety Man and infectious disease behaviorist Sean Kaufman. Together, they explore a wide range of lab safety subjects on a weekly basis.
Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and engaging debates surrounding lab safety by tuning in to every episode.
Don't miss out on this valuable resource!
The Lab Safety Gurus
The Leadership Institute for Laboratory Safety Management: A Cruise Ship Adventure
Ready for a professional development experience that breaks the mold? The Laboratory Safety Gurus, Dan Scungio and Sean Kaufman, are launching something unprecedented in the laboratory safety world – a Leadership Institute for Laboratory Safety Management aboard a Caribbean cruise ship.
From the cold of winter to the warmth of tropical waters, this seven-day journey (January 31-February 7, 2025) combines rigorous professional education with genuine refreshment. For those serving on the frontlines of laboratory safety – whether in healthcare, clinical, research, diagnostic, or public health settings – this represents a rare opportunity to step away, recharge, and return with enhanced leadership capabilities. The comprehensive program delivers 24 hours of specialized training focused on leadership skills, culture development, onboarding/offboarding processes, and risk management strategies specific to laboratory environments.
What makes this offering truly remarkable is its value proposition. For $2,500 (with early bird pricing at $2,250), participants receive tuition, accommodations, and meals – a package that would typically cost well over this amount for a comparable land-based program. The cruise departs from Tampa and visits spectacular destinations including Puerto Costa Maya (Mexico), Roatan (Honduras), Belize City, and Cozumel (Mexico). The schedule thoughtfully balances educational sessions with port exploration time, ensuring participants benefit from both professional growth and personal refreshment. Participants may even bring a guest for a reasonable additional fee, making this a potential working vacation.
Laboratory safety professionals often face resistance, frustration, and burnout in their critical roles. This innovative Institute provides not just knowledge and skills but also validation, community, and renewal – essential elements for sustained excellence in laboratory safety leadership. Space will be limited to create an intimate learning environment, so watch for registration details coming soon and secure your spot for this unique professional development opportunity that nurtures both your career and your wellbeing. Don't miss the chance to be part of this bucket-list event – follow Dan and Sean on LinkedIn for registration information!
Welcome to the Lab Safety Gurus Podcast. I'm Dan Scungio.
Speaker 2:And I'm Sean Kaufman, and together we're providing safety insights for those working in laboratory settings, doing safety together.
Speaker 1:Hey Sean Kaufman, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:today. I am doing great Dan how are you doing?
Speaker 1:I am doing fantastic. But you know, I heard a rumor and I like to verify rumors when I hear them. Did I hear correctly that there's something called the Leadership Institute for Laboratory Safety Management?
Speaker 2:You did, Dan, and you know that you are a part of this. You're going to actually be a very big part of it because you and I are going to kind of be co-facilitating this event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are I know I couldn't think of a different way to start it off.
Speaker 2:I was telling you, dan, I got a little scared. I'm like, oh my gosh, did I not tell Dan he's co-facilitating with me?
Speaker 1:I'm doing this and I forgot. No, I don't, I'm not having memory problems yet, no, so yeah, the Laboratory Institute for, I'm sorry, the Leadership Institute for Lab Safety Management, that not only is it a training event, but I understand that you've made some sort of arrangement that it can be on a cruise ship.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, dan, just a little history here. I have always wanted to do this those individuals who work in laboratories, the individuals who serve labs, whether they're in a leadership role, a supportive role, anyone who really serves laboratories. This conference is designed for them. It's a leadership event. It's going to focus on leadership skills. It's going to focus on developing culture, sustaining culture, onboarding, offboarding, inherent risk, residual risks. Dan, it's going to do a lot, but here's the deal. It's going to allow you to refresh in yourself.
Speaker 2:We're going to go in the middle of winter probably some of the coldest months to a place very, very warm. We're going to go in the middle of winter probably some of the coldest months to a place very, very warm. We're going to have social events and lectures. And here's the fun part, dan. This is why I've always wanted to do it. You ready, here we go. If I were to ask you to take a seven day trip and I were to ask you to pay for your own meals, to pay for your own lodging and to pay tuition for the cost of the event, on a seven-day event, it would be well over $2,500. Oh, easily, yeah, but that's what we're doing For room board and seven days above a cruise ship and you get 24 hours of lecture and leadership training, in addition to having social events and networking, for twenty five hundred dollars. You can't do that anywhere else. So to me it makes sense now I mean that that that that to me is it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So not only can't you do that anywhere else, that nothing like this is offered anywhere else. You know the lab and biosafety world. You know it's a pretty tight niche and there's not a lot of great educational opportunities that are out there. So I'm really excited to be a part of this too.
Speaker 1:You know, I in in my history I've always wanted to do, um, traveling events. So you know, let's go to texas, let's uh, rent a room and invite the people, but then then you really are sort of limited to the people, probably just in texas, who are going to be able to come and see you. And so you know, I do that with with my. I go to events that are, you know, statewide events or national events or whatever, and I love to do those and provide that education. But when you can do it from a location where a lot of other people will have the opportunity to be able to do that, that's even more exciting. It's a lot of work to set that up for like a weekend or for like a couple of days in one particular area, and then you're kind of limited to what's in that area. But this idea with the cruise ship I'm glad you've had that idea. That's one that must have been brewing for a while.
Speaker 2:It has been, Dan. It's on my life list. I don't know if we're ever going to do this again, but it has been one of those things. That's, you know, that's on my to-do list. In my life, I've always wanted to provide a leadership event for those serving on the front lines of emerging infectious diseases. Whether you're serving in healthcare, in a clinical lab, a research laboratory, a diagnostics lab, a public health lab, this is a chance to get away and to refresh yourself, and that's what I've always thought. You know we used to do, Dan. I don't know if you're familiar with this, but I used to lead the Leadership Institute for Biosafety Professionals, and that's what I aimed for. I always wanted them to come away, get away, to be refreshed, to remind them why they're doing what they're doing, give them some ideas and tips to survive, and then have them return to the workplace completely refreshed, renewed and excited about the work they do, and so that's the goal. That's kind of what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are so many benefits that if you've never done that in your career, you know people who are into safety usually are pretty passionate about it. But sometimes you know, in the day to day of the job you kind of you might lose a little bit of your oomph because you run into some roadblocks, you run into some culture issues, you run into some leadership issues that you don't know how to handle. You run into some staffing issues, people with different behaviors that you wonder where they come from, and so it is good to get away and be thinking and talking and learning about the thing that you're passionate about. And so when you come to something like this and you're able to just focus on this and come up with some solutions, talk to other people who are facing similar situations and finding out how other people have dealt with these kinds of issues as well in the past, you really do walk away re-energized and it is a boost for your career, it's a boost for your job.
Speaker 1:It's good to do that, and when you can do that in an area where you get to talk about what you love to do, it's even better. I mean, I know they have other, you know they have cruises for people who love comic books. They have cruises for people who quilt. They have cruises for people who are business experts, and this is one for you, if you love. Lab safety and leadership is important to you, and learning about it and connecting with other people, getting some fellowship and also some downtime and away time there's really not a better way to give you a nice rest and a refresh in your career. I can't think of a better way to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dan, like I said, I'm excited. Let me tell you a little bit about it. We start on a Saturday. People will fly into Tampa. Here's the neat part as well.
Speaker 2:A lot of people, dan, are concerned that well, if I work for a federal agency or even a state agency, you know, with Doge and everything oh my gosh, you know they're going to find out I go on a cruise. That's not the way we're actually billing. We're actually charging you tuition and room and board are included in that tuition cost. So you'll never that's not something that's ever going to appear on anybody but if that's a concern, I wanted to make sure that people could address that. I also wanted to say that everyone is allowed to invite someone. Now, that's going to be at an additional cost, but it's not too expensive to add somebody, a significant other, who you want to bring on this trip and keep this in mind.
Speaker 2:It's a seven-day trip. We're going to spend 24 hours in lecture. We will have some social events in addition to 24 hours. I think that it comes out to about 32 hours of of total engagement. But it's going to be a lot of fun. There's going to be a lot of time we we spend two days at sea, which means most of the time when we're at sea we will be cruising, which means if you bring your significant other, uh, they will be able to do all sorts of wonderful things on the ship while you're while you're studying and participating in laboratory safety, leadership stuff. But I'm excited, dan. I mean really we're going. You want to hear a little bit about the agenda where we're going, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'd love to hear the agenda and and the dates, if you have that already set.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So we're going to, we're going to leave from Tampa on the 31st of January cold month, cold month and we're going to come home on that next Saturday, february 7th. Now, in between, we spend the first day cruising, heading south into warmer areas, and then we go to Puerto Costa Maya in Mexico, and then we go to the Honduras Roatan and then we go to, uh, puerto costa maya in mexico, and then we go to the honduras roatan and then we go to belize, belize city and cozumel, mexico, and then we spend the last day cruising and we'll be wrapping up the conference that day and we pull into tampa in the morning on that saturday, and so it's a saturday to saturday event. Wow, yeah, I I mean seriously thinking about, because the way we've designed this, this, this, this program, is you will be able to enjoy the ports. So we'll, we'll give you, like, the morning time to spend in the ports and then we'll, we'll, we'll have an evening or an afternoon session or, in some ports, we'll do a morning session and then you can spend the afternoon in the port as well. So we've really designed the agenda on this program to be again, a chance for people to refresh in Dan, and that's my goal, like that's what I've.
Speaker 2:We spend so much time giving everything we can in lab safety and we get beat up for it too, don't we? I mean, there are people that that discredit us. They get mad at us, they get angry. It's really not personal. They're typically just wanting to do science and they see safety sometimes as a hassle. But, seriously, this is a chance to get away and to take a break and to refresh it, and that's that's always been my vision, dan. It's always been my vision, and to have someone like you who's energetic and happy and you get it, like we get each other, but to join us and to work together on this. I'm praying because, dan, really I'm hoping we get like 25 people. That's what I'm praying for, but I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. We're throwing out a net. We're seeing if people will be interested in doing this.
Speaker 1:That's right. So if you're interested, let us know. I know that, sean, you and I both have put I just sent yours out that you posted on LinkedIn. Would you be interested in such a thing? So let us know. Is there a way to register for this event yet?
Speaker 2:So what we had done was we just posted on LinkedIn. You can look up mine and Dan, if you take that post and repost that, it'll be under you as well. We just literally mentioned to save the date. And, dan, here's the cool part the tuition is $2,500, but we're going to open registration up next week and give a $250 deduction for an early registration, so it'll actually be $2,250. And we'll be running that early bird special for about a week, week and a half, maybe two weeks, and so if people want to go, that would be the time for them to let us know that they would like to register and see if they can get this done.
Speaker 1:You know, Sean, the whole idea of this makes me happy. But you know, when people see me presenting on this ship, I'm just going to tell you I'm going to have double energy because I do not like cold weather. I have had plenty of snow and cold in my life, and even living in Virginia. Now winters are too cold for me, but my wife loves cold weather and will not move any further south. So we're here. This is as far south as we're going. So to be able to start out in Tampa and go further south at the end of January when it's the coldest, I'm going to be so, so happy, Jumping up and down while I'm teaching. I swear it's going to be so, so happy, jumping up and down while I'm teaching. I swear it's going to be great. I'm very excited, very excited. Yeah, what an opportunity.
Speaker 1:And looking at that agenda, I have been on a Mediterranean not Mediterranean, I have been but a Caribbean cruise before. But there are stops here that I've never seen, that I'll be looking forward to as well, that I've never seen. That I'll be looking forward to as well. I just can't imagine. You stop at the port in the morning, you do some nice, you take a walk, go see some sights and the next day you're doing some learning, but you have downtime and you're having a nice meal and you do what you need to do on the ship and maybe even go to the spa while you're doing all this. How relaxing, yet at the same time energizing, so that you can come back refreshed, feeling great and energized and making a difference in the lab safety culture when you go back home. That sounds like a great great deal to me.
Speaker 2:Well, Dan, it's a bucket list and I'm hoping maybe, if somebody's out there listening to this and they want to give somebody a gift, I tried to do this, Dan, probably close to 15 years ago, and because I was at an institution and I was working at that institution, they pulled back and said, no, we can't do this. And it was going to be so good, we had everything figured out. But now that we're on our own and I guess what will happen is the people will decide If we get enough people to pull this off, then we will pull it off, and if we don't, then we won't. But we think we've given people enough time to prepare. Certainly, right now we're seven months, I think seven, eight months away. Even if you stashed a couple hundred bucks away right now, you could even do it.
Speaker 2:I've had some people, Dan, already tell me I think I'll do this personally. Some people, Dan, already tell me I think I'll do this personally. You know, if I get seven days, you know I get teaching, I get room, I get bored and I get to see all these places and I get to meet people who are doing the same thing I'm doing Heck, yes, I'll pay for that. So that's kind of where we are today. So I'm hoping, if anybody is out there wants to help me with a bucket list item that I have, I sure would love. Even if it's not for you maybe you'll forward it to somebody else I sure would love that. I would appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I definitely look forward to doing this with you, sean. I wouldn't want to do it with anybody else, but if you're listening out there, please consider this opportunity. It's an amazing opportunity that's going to really help you out and your laboratory, when all is said and done, and what a better way to do it. You really can't do it in a better way. Get this education, get this training, sign up for it and save the date Starting on January 31st, 2026, ending on February 7th. You need to put those dates in your pocket and save them for this trip. Everybody, please sign up for that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dan, I appreciate it. We are the Lab Safety Gurus, dan Scungio and Sean Kaufman.
Speaker 1:Thank you for letting us do lab safety together.