Lab News - Safety Training and Audit Reminders
Article published 01/06/17
The New Year is a good time to look back over the previous year, make plans for the coming year, and make sure your safety training is up-to-date. To that end, EHS would like to provide a few reminders laboratory staff training requirements:
- All laboratory staff must take “Lab Chemical Safety,” “PPE Awareness for Labs,” and “Biohazardous Waste” courses when first beginning work in the lab. Additional courses [2] may be required, based on the work each staff member performs.
- There are several courses that lab staff may need to take one time (based on their work duties) include: “Chemical Fume Hoods,” “Basic Biological Safety,” “Formaldehyde Safety,” “Respirators, Vol. Use,” “rDNA Research,” and “Select Agent Toxins.
- At least one person per lab must take “Hazardous Waste” every year.
- Staff working with:
- Risk Group 2 biological agents must take “Advanced Biological Safety” once.
- Human blood, tissue, cell lines or OPIM must take “BBP for Labs” initially and then take “BBP for Labs, Refresher” every year thereafter.
- Class 3B and 4 Lasers must take “Laser Safety, Research” every two years.
- Packing and/or shipping of infectious materials and/or materials requiring dry ice must complete shipping training every two years. Take either “Shipping Infectious Substances” or “Shipping with Dry Ice,” depending on what you ship.
- Radioactive materials must complete “Radiation Safety, Basic” (W002RD) training prior to working with radioactive materials.
- Radioactive materials who have completed “Radiation Safety, Basic” training, need to annually thereafter complete the “Radiation Safety, Refresher” course.
- Please note: staff working with radioactive materials who have completed “Radiation Awareness for Labs” will still need to complete “Radiation Safety, Basic” prior to beginning work with radioactive materials.
- Also note: staff that do not work with radioactive materials, but work in labs where radioactive material is used need to complete “Radiation Awareness for Labs” (W528RD).
- Compliance with staff training requirements are evaluated annually during the EHS Safety Advisor Team audit.
- If you are unsure about what type(s) of training you need to complete, contact your PI, Lab Manager, or EHS.
- Now is also a good time to review several other safety-related requirements. These are required annually, and whenever a significant change in your lab activities dictates. Further information on each can be found on the EHS web-site by clicking on the hyper-links below:
Please feel free to contact EHS with comments regarding training, quiz questions, etc. at ehs-training@uiowa.edu [6]. We welcome your input.
Here’s wishing you a very happy and safe New Year!