Environmental Health & Safety

Environmental Health and Safety, like other facility and resource needs, will require ongoing monitoring, reporting, or updating as the research project or program proceeds. Particular attention to these requirements may be needed if the scope or location of the research changes, and if Key Personnel or other Investigators are added or removed from the project while it is ongoing.

Roles

• Principal Investigators (PIs) and supervisors are responsible for the workplace safety of everyone who works in the laboratory.
• Researchers and their teams will need to participate in surveys, inspections, and audits conducted by EH&S.

Plan/Act

• Update your chemical inventory as needed when purchasing or disposing of chemicals.
• Plan and schedule for hazardous waste collection.
• Follow procedures for shipping hazardous materials.
• Ensure proper training and guidance is available and direct employees who have an exposure to the Employee Health Center during business hours or to an emergency care provider on weekends and evenings.
• Researchers and their teams should have policies and procedures for reporting of accidents and near-miss incidents in the Online Accident Reporting System (OARS).
• Identify persons responsible for providing access to standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all staff as well as Safety Data Sheets for all lab staff working with chemicals.