The Facilities Projects Support Program provides review, consultation and testing for construction projects impacting facilities occupied by UW personnel or students.
EH&S participates by providing plan review during the design phase, consultation and submittal review during design and construction and testing of select systems near the end of construction. The level of EH&S participation depends on the scope of the project and the opportunities and needs of the project management team for owned and leased facilities. EH&S collaborates with UW Project Delivery Group and their consultants, UW Facilities, and others involved in capital development and minor alterations.
Any project with potential to impact the safety of UW occupants or maintenance personnel should include EH&S as part of the project team.
Services available
EH&S provides the following services:
- Participate in program & pre-design stages
- Review design plans and specifications
- Review fire safety shop drawings
- Review consultant reports
- Test and certify fume hoods and biosafety cabinets
- Participate in commissioning of facility systems
Design standards
EH&S develops and maintains a number of design guides and standards to help assure that health and safety requirements are met, which are outlined in the General EH&S Requirements.
EH&S design guides can be found on this webpage and in the Environmental Health & Safety section of the UW Facilities Design Standard webpage.
The EH&S Environmental Protection Requirements, including hazardous materials, are located in the Environmental Health & Safety section of the UW Facilities Design Standard webpage.
- Building Modifications and Exit Access (PDF)
- Emergency Evacuation Floor Plan Insert Design Guide (PDF)
- Emergency Evacuation Sign Holder Specification (PDF)
- Fire Extinguishers & Cabinets Design Specifications Template (PDF)
- Fire Extinguishers and Cabinets Design Specifications Template
All projects involving fire detection systems and fire protection systems shall be referred to John Gunderson, EH&S senior fire protection engineer, at gunderjd@uw.edu or (206) 616-3775.
The Laboratory Safety Design Guide is part of the UW Facilities Design Standard on the UW Facilities website.
EH&S lab safety design contact: Denise Bender
- Emergency Washing Equipment design requirements
- Fume Hood Purchasing
- Fume Hood Design Specifications Template
References:
- Determination of Laboratory Airflow Rates (PDF)
- Combined General and Fume Hood Exhaust (PDF)
- Laboratory Airflow Distribution (PDF)
- Modeling for External Exhaust Systems (PDF)
- Use of Computational Fluid Dynamics for Laboratory Airflows (PDF)
- Ventilation Noise (PDF)
Design resources for safe access are available in the Safe Access and Maintainability (PDF) guide.
Additional operational considerations are available in the Fall Protection Resources webpage and UW Fall Protection Program Manual (PDF).
Design support personnel
The EH&S staff assigned to a project usually consists of one or more core reviewers and additional staff depending on the scope of the project. A complete list of review staff and their areas of expertise is available on the Facilities Project Support EH&S Staff Roles reference.
Emergency response and reporting
UW personnel are required to submit an incident report to Environmental Health & Safety for any work-related event that results in an injury, illness, exposure to hazardous materials, or fire, regardless of the work location. UW personnel are highly encouraged to submit work-related near-miss events. Visit the Incident Reporting page for more information.
Frequently asked questions
A list of design criteria including design guides and specification sections is located in the design standards section above and on the UW Facilities Design Standard website
A complete list of review staff and their areas of expertise is listed in Facilities Project Support Staff reference.
Leased facilities are constructed or remodeled through a similar processes but the project is not managed by the UW.