Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), in collaboration with Facilities Management (FM), Risk Management, and University Human Resources, has released Safety Solutions, a mechanism to report:
- safety hazards or concerns,
- suggestions to improve safety, including the safety culture, procedures, or oversight, and
- near-misses = a situation that could have resulted in an incident or injury but did not.
Any member of the University faculty, staff, or students can use Safety Solutions by accessing the link above and signing in with their HawkID. The purpose of Safety Solutions is to encourage the campus community to be an active participant in ensuring a safe and healthy campus environment.
Safety Solutions should NOT be used to report:
- Any incident that resulted in an injury/illness to a UI employee – use the First Report of Injury through Employee Self Service
- Any incident that resulted in an injury/illness to a non-UI employee (such as a student or volunteer) – use Risk Management’s Incident Report Form
- Building or grounds maintenance – use FM@YourService
- Criminal or Emergency situations (including use of a fire extinguisher) – 911 or Department of Public Safety
- Any concerns or events relating to UIHC – report through The Point
- Anonymous reporting – use Report a Concern
Following submission of a case, a group of administrators comprised of staff from EHS and FM will review the information.
Log into Safety Solutions with your HawkID and password.
Complete the form fields as described below (* denotes a required field):
- *Contact information: This will auto populate with the HawkID sign-in.
- Contact same as reporter:
- Yes: will leave contact information from the HawkID sign-in.
- No: new contact information will be entered for the individual that will serve as the main contact for this submission. Contact information will be entered through the HawkID search field.
- *Building: Enter a building from the drop down. Choose the closest building if the issue is not located in a building.
- Room number: Enter a room number, if applicable.
- Safety Hazard / Suggestion: Choose a category that best represents the item being submitted. Choose “Other” if needed.
- *Description: Please describe the near miss, suggestion, idea or concern. Include enough detail such that the appropriate individual to follow-up on this submission can be identified.
- Related Attachment: Photos, documents, files that support the submission can be attached, if desired.
Options for submission include:
- Save and Return Later: individuals may save the form and return to the form at a later date by logging back into Safety Solutions and clicking on “Submitted Safety Concerns” in the upper right of the screen.
- Submit for Review: the form will be submitted to an administrative team comprised of staff from the Division of Student Life, Environmental Health & Safety, and Facilities Management. This team will assign the submission to an appropriate individual to review/investigate.
Once the form is submitted, the campus user will receive an email confirmation with a link to the form. Users can monitor the form’s progress by clicking on the link within the email or logging into Safety Solutions and clicking on “Submitted Safety Concerns”. The status of the form will be updated as it progresses through the workflow.
The submission will either be addressed by the administrators or may be assigned to an individual within the department for further investigation. The investigation will provide an opportunity for questions, gathering additional information, and clarification, where needed. The investigator will propose a resolution and possible action items, where appropriate.
When a new case is assigned to a specific person, the individual will receive an email notification. The Assignee is the person that will review/investigate the submission.
- If you feel you have been incorrectly assigned a submission, add the reason you feel this should be reassigned in the notes field at the end of the form and click the Reassign button. This will return the submission with an email notification to the Departmental Safety Administrator.
In a near miss situation, the Assignee should determine the reason(s) that lead to the incident and what corrective action(s) should be put in place to prevent the incident from happening again. Assignees should not place blame but instead gather facts and analyze acquired data. They will need to:
- Identify any contributing actions and/or conditions to the situation (equipment, environment, tools, procedures, personnel, etc.). Ask questions such as Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
- Identify the root cause, a fundamental cause that if corrected, will prevent the condition from happening again. The best way to identify the root cause is to repeatedly ask “Why” (five is a good rule of thumb). This will peel away the layers of symptoms which can lead to the root cause of a problem.
- Document any questions/information during the review/investigation by clicking “Add” to the right of the Questions: text box, then type the information into the associated text box.
- Identify possible corrective actions.
- Describe any corrective actions, not identified in the check list above, how these actions will be implemented, and a time frame for implementation.
When suggestions and/or concerns are submitted, the Assignee should determine the ability to implement a suggestion or correct the situation leading to the concern.
- Use the available checkboxes, if appropriate.
- Add in any information gathered during the review/investigation in the Case Root Cause and/or Question text boxes.
- Describe any subsequent actions taken to resolve the concern or implement the suggestion in the Proposed Timely Corrective Actions text box.
Use the Save and Return Later button to document and save any progress made on the review/investigation prior to completion; the form will NOT automatically save your progress. Access the case by logging back into Safety Solutions and clicking on “Submitted Safety Concerns” in the upper right of the screen or use the link that was included in the email notification.
When the review/investigation is complete, add any communication to the Departmental Safety Administrator in the Notes field at the bottom of the form and click Submit Solution for Review button. The Departmental Safety Administrator will be notified via email that the investigation is ready for review.
The proposal will be reviewed by departmental safety administrators and the Safety Solution administrators prior to approval and communication back to the campus user.
The campus user that submitted the form will be able to see the status of their submission by logging into Safety Solutions.
- New Item: Case has been submitted.
- In Review: Case is in review.
- Pending: Case is in review with Departmental Safety Administrator.
- Final Review: Proposed solution is being reviewed by Safety Solutions Administrators.
- Approved: Case is closed.
An email will be sent to the campus user when the workflow is complete and will allow full review of any information gathered during the process and any subsequent resolutions or action plans.
Any questions or concerns with Safety Solutions should be addressed to Haley Sinn, EHS Director, at haley-williams@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9553.