EH&S Annual Report FY24
The EH&S Annual Report FY24 summarizes the work of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) during fiscal year 2024.
Staff & Contacts List
Sharps Safety
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) is committed to working with University personnel to reduce the risk of accidents and injuries before, during, and after procedures involving sharps. The following resources will help you and your staff avoid needlesticks and sharps injuries.
Before the procedure
We recommend preparing to work with sharps by doing the following:
Replace your obsolete biosafety cabinet
The University has over 950 active biosafety cabinets (BSCs), and about 150 have become obsolete due to safer design standards and the challenge of obtaining replacement parts. Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) recommends replacing obsolete cabinets before they fail to minimize disruptions to research projects.
The following resources are available to assist you with the purchase and replacement of BSCs:
Sharp Safety Devices Poster
The Sharp Safety Devices Poster recommends safer sharps devices and other tools to reduce the risk of sharps injuries.
Visit the Sharps Safety page for more information.
Sharps Safety Tools and Resources Presentation
The Sharps Safety Tools and Resources Presentation recommends safer sharps devices, PPE and other tools to reduce the risk of sharps injuries.
Visit the Sharps Safety page for more information.
Work safely with human materials
Human source materials, including human cell lines, blood, tissues and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) are commonly used biohazards in UW research labs. Potentially infectious human materials can contain bloodborne pathogens (BBP) such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and hepatitis B and C viruses.
EH&S assists with regulatory permits for biological samples
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) has noticed an increase in regulatory inspections and audits related to permits for biological samples. EH&S Biological Safety is available to support your lab in preparation for and during regulatory inspections and permit applications with external (non-UW) agencies to help ensure readiness and compliance. Please inform your laboratory personnel about the following so that they can notify EH&S of inspections and provide the appropriate UW contact information for permits.
REGULATORY INSPECTIONS
October is Biosafety Month: Schedule a spa day for your lab
October is National Biosafety Month, a time to strengthen and reevaluate biosafety practices in the lab.
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) encourages you to set aside some time for laboratory “self-care” or a spa day! A clean and tidy lab helps ensure a safe and healthy work environment and maintain the quality of research samples.
Failure to keep good housekeeping practices in the lab can lead to time consuming and costly issues including: