Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) published new guidelines for radiofrequency safety aimed at protecting workers who perform tasks on rooftops with wireless cellular antennas.
The key points of the new radiofrequency wireless cellular antennas safety guidelines include:
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) serves as the University representative and liaison to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for all campus locations, including UW Medicine, and will coordinate all activities related to an L&I investigation. EH&S will coordinate on behalf of the University with the appropriate unit and University representatives, including Human Resources Labor Relations.
If an L&I Inspector contacts you
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) published an updated Hearing Loss Prevention Program Manual. The updates impact all UW personnel with a potential for elevated exposure to noise in the workplace at all University locations.
EH&S launched an updated online Wildfire Smoke Safety course to address new regulatory requirements. UW personnel can access it in the EH&S Course Catalog.
This course is required for University personnel who work outdoors and may be exposed to wildfire smoke at an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 72 or higher. Annual retraining is required.
The UW community can help save a life by knowing where automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are located in University buildings before a sudden cardiac arrest occurs. PulsePoint provides a map of AED locations and a free app that allows smartphone users to easily find AEDs at UW locations.
If your research involves the use of centrifuges, ovens/furnaces, vacuum pumps, or other laboratory equipment, the Laboratory Equipment Maintenance webpage provides resources that can help you mitigate the hazards associated with commonly used lab equipment.
Principal investigators planning to use nitric acid should follow safe use and storage practices, develop an SOP and provide documented training to all lab personnel.
The hazards
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) published updates to our Shop and Maker Space Safety resources for units and departments that operate shops and maker spaces at the University of Washington.
MyChem requires users to upload a safety data sheet (SDS) when adding a new chemical to an inventory if that chemical does not currently exist in the MyChem database. If you have chemicals in your MyChem inventory that do not have an SDS linked to them, you must either upload the missing SDS or have an easily accessible copy of the SDS in your workspace to remain in compliance.
Search for an existing SDS
Personnel working on UW research vessels can now add their chemical inventories into MyChem, the University’s chemical tracking system. UW personnel who use chemicals or chemical-containing products at any UW owned or leased facility are required to maintain chemical inventories in MyChem, and chemicals can include, but are not limited to, paint, compressed gas cylinders, epoxies, and fuel.