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Has your lab created a tool, resource, or practice to enhance safety in your workspace?

Submit it to EH&S for a chance to be recognized at the 2019 Laboratory Safety Awards & Innovations Event.

To enter, email a description of your innovation to labcheck@uw.edu (with ”Innovation” as the subject header). Selected innovations will be shared at the event on December 9 through presentations and posters.

On July 8, 2019, EH&S launched a new version of the Lab Safety Dashboard, a tool vital to our campus’ safety management in research and teaching laboratories. The dashboard has portals for scientific department principal investigators, chairs, deans and UW executives that allow them (or their designee) to review safety performance data and inspection reports for their units.

After June 21, 2019, users with temporary visitor accounts (accounts with a “wireXXXXX” format) will no longer be able to access online safety training courses provided by the Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S).

The Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) is implementing a new Boating Safety Program for students and personnel who use University-owned boats or operate boats as part of their affiliation with the University. The Boating Safety Program is a University-wide program, which manages motored vessels and non-motorized paddle-craft.

If you are a UW student, personnel or volunteer who operates boats as part of your affiliation with the University, please do the following:

As of May 1, 2019, personnel who conduct work in University animal care and use areas will no longer have the option to decline the initial animal use medical screening. The medical screening evaluates and mitigates potential health risks related to working with research animals.

During your lab’s next EH&S survey visit, you will be asked a new question from the survey checklist if PPE is adequately available for everyone. The desired response to this question is a confident “Yes!”  

As of April 2019, the online radiation safety training looks very different. The new training is interactive, features quizzes and activities along the way, and contains voiceovers by our very own Radiation Safety staff. 

Do you assess the risk in your lab work? It is important to conduct a risk assessment whenever a new experiment, procedure or project is developed in your lab. A risk assessment focuses on hazard identification at each step or task level, and can provide essential information for enhancing safety practices, establishing proper procedures, and ensuring all lab members are properly trained. EH&S’s new Lab R.A.T. (Laboratory Risk Assessment Tool) can be used to help with gathering the information you need.

With the closure of Consolidated Laundry, the UW is moving to a new vendor for lab coat cleaning. UW Procurement Services is assisting with the transition to an alternate laundry provider (MediCleanse) for laboratories and academic spaces on campus.

Departments with an operational requirement for lab coat cleaning during the transition should contact Ray Hsu, director of strategic sourcing and contracting, at rayhsu@uw.edu.

Lab animal allergens can be a serious health concern for those who work with animals at the UW; it’s important to understand the health risks and how to protect yourself. EH&S has resources that can help.