Emergency Action Plans
During the fall semester, Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) and University Police staff provided information/training sessions to the Emergency Action Plan representatives. The focus of the sessions was to outline the EAP representative’s duties during an emergency and distribute resources such as weather radios, two-way radios, flashlights, and high visibility vests. Suggestions were solicited on how we might make the Emergency Action Plans more readable, user-friendly, and accessible to all faculty and staff. These suggestions will be taken into consideration during the next review/revision of the plans. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact Denson Chatfield at dchat@iun.edu or Kathryn Manteuffel at kmanteuf@iun.edu.
Planned Building Evacuation Drills
In 2010, there will be planned evacuation drills occurring in each of IU Northwest’s buildings. These drills will help us prepare for and respond to emergencies. IU Northwest’s emergency responders ask that you take the drills seriously and respond in an appropriate way (i.e. fire alarm requires all occupants to evacuate the building to the primary evacuation meeting area). Following each drill and/or training exercise, there will be a post-event evaluation to recognize excellent responses, review procedures, and identify areas of improvement. Hopefully, this will be the only time that we must call upon the EAP representatives.
Formal Laboratory Safety Audits
In the summer and fall of 2009, the formal laboratory safety audits resumed at IU Northwest. There were seventy laboratories, storerooms, and prep areas that were evaluated for safety. Laboratory Safety Audit forms were completed and supplied to the principal investigators/laboratory supervisors that outlined the findings. It is the responsibility of the principal investigator/laboratory supervisor to ensure safety in his/her lab. A few principal investigators/laboratory supervisors did contact EH&S staff following receipt of their audit to discuss improvements or request a consultation. As always, the audits are intended to be educational experiences that will help the research and teaching communities learn how to improve the continuous management of their facilities. Should any of the principal investigators/laboratory supervisors be in need of a follow-up audit or some guidance on how to comply with federal/state/local regulations that apply to the laboratory environment, please feel free to contact EH&S at 981-4230 or kmanteuf@iun.edu.
Environmental Health & Safety WIG
Assist in improving the overall safety and well-being of the campus community/environment by increasing the time spent providing audit, consultation, and training services on environmental, health and safety issues from 315 (2009 target) hours to 520 hours in calendar year 2010.
Lead Measures:
- Perform formal laboratory safety audits in 100% of the active research labs, teaching labs, and storerooms located on the IU Northwest campus by December 31, 2010.
- Offer consultation services to 100% of the established department safety officers/representatives by December 31, 2010.
- Increase the frequency of fire/evacuation drills in IU Northwest buildings (except Child Care) by 100% (at minimum) by December 31, 2010.
- Child Care—maintain monthly drills
- Assembly Occupancies—from zero drills to quarterly
- Business Occupancies—from zero drills to annually
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