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The University of Washington Office of Animal Welfare, in partnership with the Office of Research Information Services, is launching the HoverBoard System. HoverBoard is an important initiative to upgrade to a streamlined, integrated environment for submitting and managing animal protocols. HoverBoard comes with a collaborative workflow and simplified management of IACUC processes, as well as facilitated review of biosafety concerns. HoverBoard will provide an end-to-end, web-based solution for investigators to create, subm

Policy and procedure change is underway to assign EH&S the responsibility to plan, schedule, and help facilitate fire drills for most UW Seattle buildings. This change will reduce the administrative burden of building coordinators to plan the drill and relieves UW Facilities from the task of activating the alarm system on the UW Seattle campus. Formal policy change is anticipated to occur later this summer. The following links provide information to related materials, resources and tools that have just changed:

Nitric acid is a highly-corrosive mineral acid and strong oxidizer used primarily for nitration of organic molecules. Nitric acid reacts violently with alcohols, alkalis, reducing agents, combustible materials, organic materials, metals, acids, cyanides, terpenes, charcoal, and acetone. Not only does it produce exothermic reactions but also toxic, corrosive, and flammable vapors. The violent, reactive nature of nitric acid has led to major incidents at research universities such as Tufts, Texas Tech, and, recently, here at the University of Washington.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is becoming more common to UW campuses in maker spaces, research labs and classrooms. New users may not realize that 3D printers, the materials they use, or their products and waste could present health or safety hazards. Contact with hot internal parts or hot plastic resin could result in burns or other hand injuries. Respiratory irritation can be caused by ultra-fine particles released during printing, or by particles released during sanding and grinding to finish the object. Dusts can be combustible and make floors slippery.

Is your group planning a party, departmental graduation ceremony or other event at UW? Your outdoor event may require a permit from the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) if any of the following apply:

Part of keeping your laboratory safe is ensuring it is prepared for an earthquake or other natural disaster. Here are some best practices for protecting yourself and others in this potential scenario.

Protect Your Exit Way
Tall or heavy equipment near your laboratory exit could tip over and block it during an earthquake, so take action now to prevent this:

Health & Safety Committees provide valuable contributions to the UW’s total workplace safety program. Ten committees represent all UW employees, and the new two-year term for these committees began January 1, 2016.

Representatives from these committees make up the University-Wide (U-Wide) Health and Safety Committee, which also began its new two-year term at the start of the year. The U-Wide committee has two representatives from each of the ten organizational committees, a representative from the Faculty Senate, union representation, and other ex-officio members.

Lithium batteries are in many items, from electronic cigarettes to motor vehicles. Most of the devices are perfectly safe. However, there have been a few issues arising from items containing these batteries. The UW Bothell campus recently had a hover board fire, and there was a fire on the Seattle campus because of a battery-powered vacuum cleaner.

Playing now on a computer screen near you: a new video for researchers about how to manage your chemical waste. EH&S collaborated with the Materials Science & Engineering Department to develop a short video about the UW’s chemical waste management process. Get all your common waste management questions answered and learn more about properly labeling, storing, and managing hazardous chemical waste. 

The 2015 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300A summaries of work-related injuries and illnesses are now posted on the Accident and Injury Reporting page of the EH&S website, along with summaries for previous years.

The summaries are required to be posted from February 1, 2016 through April 30, 2016 in a location where employees can easily see them, such as on a department’s safety bulletin board or in a break room.