Striving for Laboratory Safety ExcellenceWithout a Lot of

Striving for Laboratory Safety Excellence-Without a Lot of Resources Heather Jackson, M. S. , CHMM, CSP Assistant Director of Chemical Safety and Environmental Compliance

Program Credits • Kevin Cisner, CSP- UIC Lab Safety Coordinator -an invaluable leader of the UIC lab safety program • We could not have made these improvements without his technical expertise, hard work, and passion for safety

Presentation Objectives • Provide strategies to improve safety training compliance at your University • Provide strategies to increase engagement of Principal Investigators (PIs) in the lab safety program • Highlight useful lab safety tools for PIs and lab employees

UIC Organization • Approximately 450 Principal Investigators, 36 departments which perform scientific research • Laboratory Safety (part of the Environmental, Health, and Safety Office) falls under the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services • Institutional Biosafety Committee, Institutional Review Board, Animal Care Committee completely separate under the Vice Chancellor for Research

UIC Organization • No oversight or monitoring of laboratory safety by University senior leadership • Disconnect between Administrative Services and the research community • Not the organizational model advocated by the Chemical Safety Board

Strategies to Increase PI Engagement in the Lab Safety Program

Identified PI Lab Safety Responsibilities • Laboratory Safety Management-far from intuitive • Created a one-page document to tell the PI what they should do to create a safer laboratory • Document reviewed by UIC Legal Councilendorsement of UIC Legal Council added credibility A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

UIC PI Responsibilities for Laboratory Safety • Provide and Document Training • Complete Lab Hazard/PPE Assessment and Provide PPE • Complete UIC Chemicals of Concern Survey • Develop Lab Emergency Procedures and SOPs for Particularly Hazardous Substances • Post Updated Lab ID Card and Hazard Placard A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

UIC PI Responsibilities for Lab Safety • Report and Investigate all Injuries • Provide Access to Safety Data Sheets • Provide and Maintain Required Engineered Controls • Correct Hazards in a Timely Fashion • Hold Employees Accountable for Complying with Safety Procedures A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Key Initiative-Lab Safety Responsibilities for Principal Investigators Course • Wanted to highlight the UCLA tragedy and legal consequences to get PIs more engaged in lab safety • Created a “mandatory” training course for PIs • Stressed this course was to help protect the PI from legal liability and increase laboratory safety A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Key Initiative-Lab Safety Responsibilities for Principal Investigators Course • Highlighted lab safety accidents from across the country and played Chemical Safety board video “Experimenting with Danger” • Folders distributed containing key documents for PIs • Reviewed PI responsibility document and tools available to help the PI. • Stressing that we create safety tools to help the researcher meet their responsibilities was key A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Criminal Defense ULCA Professor Patrick Harren’s Trial A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Laboratory Accidents 'A TRUE TRAGEDY': Yale student asphyxiated in lathe accident at chemistry lab, medical examiner rules A death in the lab Fatality adds further momentum to calls for a shake-up in academic safety culture.

Laboratory Accidents Blast probe finds 20 safety violations Texas Tech investigators have linked a Jan. 7 laboratory explosion that severely injured a doctoral candidate to 20 surrounding violations of the university’s safety policy, according to documents released Monday.

Laboratory Accidents • Lab Fire at UIC’s College of Pharmacy

Strategies to Improve Lab Safety Training Compliance

Laboratory Training Matrix • Lab Safety Training Matrix- goal to aid researchers in identifying what lab safety training is needed. • Identifies training needed based on the activities a lab worker performs • Modeled after a UCLA document • Received a lot of positive feedback on this document A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Exactly Who Needs Lab Safety Training? • 2010 - Records existed of who we trained but no idea how many people should be trained • Goal-identify the universe of individuals requiring safety training • No good data source on lab workers-included a lot of people who didn’t actually work in labs • We had to “take a census” to identify our lab workers and PIs

Lab Worker Census • Labor Intensive-36 different departments to approach • For departments where our data was OK, we sent our list of PIs and lab workers from the Onsite database and asked for corrections • Where our data was very lacking, we asked the department for a list of PIs and lab workers • All lab worker and PI names entered in Onsite database A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Training Deficiency Reports Drove Compliance • Lab Safety Training Deficiency Reports- identify individuals who have not met safety training requirements • Issued to individual lab workers and Department Heads • The deficiency reports were a game changer-Department Heads and PIs generally did not ignore deficiency reports • Created the need to add several additional training sessions throughout the year

Training Statistics Year Number of Lab Employees Trained Number of PIs Trained On PI Responsibilities 2010 118 0 2011 180 0 2012 738 187 2013 767 172 Totals 1802 416 Lab worker training compliance rate rose from 10% to 70%. Current PI training compliance rate is 80%. A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Less Labor Intensive Training Strategies • Outreach to key departments was incredibly helpful to achieve high training compliance rates. • Chemistry Dept. - Lab Safety training part of required new employee orientation. 100 % training compliance achieved in the Chemistry Dept. • Physics and Pharmacy- Lab Safety training a required departmental seminar A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Useful Lab Safety Tools for PIs and Lab Employees

UIC “Chemicals of Concern” Survey • Conducting full chemical inventories at UIC would be very difficult-no teeth to enforce requirement. • PI are asked to complete the “UIC Chemicals of Concern” survey. This is a list of high risk and chemicals regulated by: • US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) • US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

UIC Chemicals of Concern Survey • The UIC Chemical of Concerns Survey identifies: - Toxic Gases - Explosives - Pyrophoric Materials - OSHA Regulated Carcinogens - Class A and B Peroxides - Chemicals Regulated by the DHS (low thresholds) - OSHA Regulated Toxic Substances - EPA Extremely Hazardous Substances (low thresholds) A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

UIC Chemicals of Concern Survey • Only included EPCRA and DHS regulated chemicals with low thresholds. • All lab employees must be notified if any of these high risk chemicals are present in the lab, the hazards associated with the chemical, and appropriate precautions. A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Laboratory Hazard Assessment Tool • Developed a UIC Hazard Assessment Tool. • This document informs laboratory workers of the different types of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) they need to wear for the specific tasks they perform in the laboratory. • Completion audited during lab inspection process.

Laboratory Hazard Assessment Tool

Lab PPE Guide

MSDS Online • UIC cited by the Illinois Department of Labor for not providing appropriate access to MSDS • MSDSonline-MSDS management system • The MSDSonline database allows each PI to create an “e-binder” of their MSDS. • If internet is lost, the MSDSonline company can provide backup copies. A World-Class Education, A World-Class City

Questions? Heather Jackson, M. S. , CHMM, CSP Assistant Director of Chemical Safety and Environmental Compliance E-mail: heather 9@uic. edu Phone: (312) 413 -9706 A World-Class Education, A World-Class City