Chemical Safety

The UW is committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment for all employees, students and visitors. Individuals who work with or near hazardous substances need to be aware of the identity, potential physical and health hazards, and the safe work practices that can minimize exposure. To assure individual health and safety, and meet regulatory requirements, the UW developed the Chemical Hazard Communication (HazCom) Program to address how to classify chemical hazards, and communicate the hazards and safeguards required to protect individuals from exposure to those hazards.

Be prepared with proper training, cleanup supplies and personal protective equipment to manage spills easily and safely.

If you work with chemicals, you will probably have a chemical spill at some point. Your safety, and the safety of others, depends on your assessment and response.

To assess whether you and your fellow researchers are prepared to manage a chemical spill, consider these questions:

UW employees who use chemicals or chemical-containing products at any UW owned or leased facility are required to maintain chemical inventories in MyChem, the UW’s chemical tracking system.

EH&S is responsible for the collection of hazardous chemical waste for the University, including all campuses and off-site locations. Hazardous chemical waste is defined as any liquid, gaseous, or solid chemical that is ignitable, corrosive, reactive, toxic, or persistent, and is no longer useful or wanted.

According to Administrative Policy Statement 11.2, organizational units and departments cannot contract with an outside vendor to collect hazardous waste.