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October is National Biosafety Month, a time to focus on your lab’s biosafety policies and procedures. For 2021, EH&S would like labs to focus on the importance of wearing lab coats. Lab coats are an important barrier between your skin or clothes and any hazards that you work with in the lab. Not only do lab coats protect you from exposure, they also help prevent you from transporting laboratory contamination home to your family, friends and pets.

A person can be seriously injured, even killed, when working on a machine or equipment if the hazardous energy sources are not controlled.

Several recent incidents have occurred at the University in which a chemical or infectious material splashed or splattered into the eye because the individual was not wearing the correct type of eye protection for the hazards they faced, or not wearing eye protection at all. You should always evaluate your workplace for potential eye hazards so you can select the appropriate safety equipment.

Eyeglasses versus safety glasses or goggles

Stormwater drains on the UW campuses empty directly into local waterways, which can carry pollution that harms wildlife, such as birds and fish. Campus activities can put the surrounding natural areas at risk when garbage, oils, chemicals and other potentially harmful substances are allowed to flow into stormwater drains.

Stormwater drain on a UW campus

University faculty, staff, and students must complete an animal use health screening prior to work in any University animal care and use environment to evaluate and address potential health risks related to working with research animals.

You can help speed up the health screening process by following these tips when completing the online Animal Use Medical Screening (AUMS) form:

1. Verify your contact Information.

Your workspace should always be ready for an inspection. The most important thing you can do to be prepared for an inspection is to keep your lab, shop, clinic, or other workspace clean, organized, and up to University of Washington standards. 

The most common violations found during hazardous waste inspections are open containers and incomplete labels.

Following the announcement of the Seattle Police Department’s preventable fire alarm initiative (that will result in fines for false alarms starting January 1, 2020), EH&S has fielded concerns about whether a fire alarm should be trigged when a fire is not present.

On December 9, 2019, EH&S hosted the Laboratory Safety Awards & Innovation Event to share new practices developed to enhance the culture of safety in UW research and teaching labs. Executive Director of Health Sciences Administration, Dave Anderson gave the opening speech, and Katia Harb, Senior Director of EH&S, gave the closing remarks. Research leaders presented innovations instated in their labs and departments to improve safety practices and safety training completion.

EH&S launched a new version of the Lab Safety Dashboard that offers a Self-Inspection Tool that allows PIs and CHOs to conduct and record an audit of their laboratory spaces using the lab survey checklist.

October is National Biosafety Month, a time to focus on your lab’s biosafety practices and policies. For 2019, EH&S is focusing on biosafety beyond the lab. We are encouraging you to reflect and seek opportunities to strengthen your practices related to biohazards outside of the lab.

1. Transport biohazards safely