UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 10, Page 1
November 2, 1995
Safety committees play a significant role on campus

     Maintaining a safe work environment at an institution the size of
the University, with its many classrooms, teaching and research labs,
supporting facilities and thousands of students, faculty and employees
is a never-ending task.
     While the primary responsibility for the establishment and
enforcement of safety procedures rests with the Department of
Occupational Health and Safety, safety is everybody's business.
     To help monitor compliance with safety policies in the classroom
and the workplace, the Office of the Vice President for Government and
Public Relations has established 30 departmental safety committees
serving in areas ranging from Instructional Technology to Facilities
Management to the Department of Chemical Engineering.
     "Departmental safety committees are groups of individuals who
watch out for safety issues within a given department," Robin Elliott,
director of occupational health and safety, said. "We give them an
outline and a basic idea of what a safety committee should do."
     Meeting at least on a quarterly basis, the committees usually
have from six to 12 members, working under the direction of a
committee chairperson.
     These committees are responsible for conducting safety
inspections within their respective departments and following up on
safety requests made by department chairpersons, unit supervisors,
students or staff.
     Inspections are usually carried out quarterly, ideally between
committee meetings, so results can be discussed.
     "Our safety committee has been active for almost 18 years,"
George Whitmyre, laboratory coordinator for chemical engineering,
said. "The most effective facets of our program are training, chemical
ordering, research group safety audits and laboratory equipment hazard
review."
     The greatest accomplishment of the departmental safety committee,
according to Whitmyre, is the safety culture that has been established
in the chemical engineering department. Whitmyre also relies on e-mail
to poll his committee, schedule safety meetings and circulate safety
bulletins in his department.
     "Safety committees were established because the University
thought they were the most effective way to deal with safety
requirements across the campus," Elliott said. "The committees are
looking at areas where they live and work, and they can identify
priority issues within their department."
     Another example of people getting involved with safety concerns
is the Facilities Management safety committee, where committee action
resulted in improvement of the physical plant and implementation of
new safety and rescue procedures.
     Examples of committee action include the installation of a fire
evacuation alarm and Freon alarm system in the Central Boiler Plant.
Additional meetings with the Office of Operations and Maintenance led
to the creation of a written diagram for elevator rescue procedures,
and funding for the installation of elevator phones that ring directly
to Public Safety.
     "Employee concern over lighting conditions in a few buildings
resulted in improvements in McKinly Laboratory, Ewing Hall and the old
Ed Fine building," said Patricia Benton-Fogg, who chairs the
Facilities Management safety committee.
     According to Elliott, "Some other achievements made by safety
committees cover a wide range of safety concerns, such as improving
lifting practices in Supporting Services, installing handrails for
steps at Alison Hall, providing safety shoes for University movers and
installing eyewashes and safety showers in needed locations in McKinly
Laboratory. Many safety committees are proving to be very successful
in identifying and addressing their own safety hazards, which is the
goal of the committee program."
     Graduate students also serve as representatives on departmental
safety committees in most academic departments.
     Their input to the committee, said Elliott, has helped with the
establishment of new student safety training. Several academic
departments require extensive safety training for any students prior
to working in laboratories.
     Serving as chairperson of the Central Safety Committee, whose
members are the chairpersons of each department committee, Elliott
uses the forum as a communications network, advising the members of
product recalls, training opportunities and any information that would
be helpful to the committee's charge.
     "Our overall goal is to increase safety across campus," Elliott
said, "and we are fostering a safety culture through departmental
safety committees."
                                                         -Jerry Rhodes