Lab Safety Audit: UNMC Guidelines

• UNMC Environmental Health and Safety’s mission is to foster a culture of absolute safety for students, faculty, staff, patients, and visitors, as well as to minimize environmental and regulatory risks to UNMC and Nebraska Medicine.
• Labs are audited annually by the UNMC Environmental Health and Safety Office to ensure compliance with federal, state, and university requirements.
• Inspections may also be unannounced based on reported incidents or potential unsafe practices.
• Contact the EHS Office at (402) 559-6356 with lab audit questions or to report unsafe lab practices.

Purpose of Annual Audits

• To ensure all laboratories follow appropriate lab safety policies and procedures.
• Audits involve general lab safety practices for OSHA requirements and chemical safety compliance with EPA standards.

EPA RCRA Compliance

• Evolved from the efforts of the Associate General Counsel and Director of Institutional Compliance for the University of Nebraska.
• The primary goal to provide EPA regulatory guidance to UNMC personnel.
  • To ensure compliance with EPA RCRA and OSHA regulations in all labs/chemical use areas.
  • To visit labs handling materials in order to gather information on hazardous waste generation and subsequent disposal.
  • To promote waste minimization and pollution prevention.
  • To help UNMC personnel become familiar with EPA and OSHA regulatory compliance inspection interviews.

Laboratory Safety Audit Categories

• Explanations of the audit items are organized by category on the laboratory safety audit checklist.
• The explanations are supported by government and/or state regulations or are considered best practices.
• The primary goal to ensure that all laboratory principal investigators, staff, and students conduct research safely and according to the EPA and OSHA regulations.

Laboratory Safety Training

• All lab personnel, students, and working visitors must be trained on experiments and procedures performed in the lab.
• Document all training that is provided to personnel, students, and visitors working in the laboratory, the Laboratory Safety Training Record is available for laboratories to use.
• Additional training may be required for individuals working with radioactivity, biohazard agents, research animals, and shipping dangerous goods.

Chemical Safety

• All individuals working in the lab must be educated about chemical hazards within the lab space(s), laboratory safety training must be documented.
• A risk hazard assessment must be conducted for all chemicals, substances, and processes posing a physical and/or health hazard.
• Ways to minimize or eliminate exposures to the physical and health hazards through engineering controls, barriers, substitution, and/or personal protective equipment should be considered. Risk assessments must be documented and EHS staff may ask to see documentation during safety audits.
• Safety Data Sheets (SDS) must be readily accessible for all chemicals/substances in the lab space(s).
• Chemicals, including chemical waste, must be properly labeled and stored by hazardous class and compatibility, label templates are available for use.

Chemical Waste

• Proper chemical storage is a requirement for laboratories using hazardous materials.
• Chemicals need to be organized by compatibility, labeled with full chemical names (no abbreviations), and kept in good condition.
• Flammable chemicals, including waste, must be stored in approved storage rooms or flammable liquids cabinets.
• Chemical waste must be properly disposed of, with additional EPA regulated items tagged with a green chemical collection tag.
• Chemical waste containers must be closed, appropriately labeled, and stored in secondary containment.
• All labs must submit an updated chemical inventory to EHS annually.
• Employees who ship hazardous materials or dangerous goods, must follow regulatory requirements and receive training.
• Laboratories must ensure empty chemical containers are not EPA regulated before disposal.
• If the lab has mercury thermometers, it is recommended that they be replaced with alcohol thermometers and disposed of through EHS.

Emergency Procedures

Labs must ensure personnel are aware of the following:

• To report needle sticks and cuts via the OUCH Pager: 402-888-6824; have the Principal Investigator’s contact information.
• Chemical spill procedures in the Emergency Preparedness Guide; Guides are posted near elevator lobbies and stair towers and chemicals spills to Campus Security at (402) 559-5555.
• The current (2020) laboratory safety poster is present and has all lab personnel, assistance is available through Kelly Johnson at (402) 559-9913, email [email protected]
• The OSHA requirements for emergency eyewashes and safety showers. An eyewash station provide to remove chemical contamination within laboratory rooms must be tested and recorded weekly by laboratory personnel using the Eyewash/Drench weekly

Emergency Equipment

• Be aware the locations of the fire alarm pull station, fire extinguisher and exit stair tower
• All personnel must go to in an emergency is the muster point

General Safety

• The use of food and drink and/or the application of cosmetics not allowed in any laboratory used or stored with: chemical, biological or radioactive materials.
• All aisles within the lab space(s) have a width of 36", no items shall block doors and corridors
• All rooms are to be labeled that is the lab space, all chemical/reagent in the rooms should have what they are in the container.
• Nothing to be be placed on the corridor doors or vision panels (windows) on the doors and do not prop open doors
• Required dress code must be followed wearing toed closed shoes and tied back long hair in the lab.

Other Safety

• Labs must provide PPE readily (lab coats, gowns, gloves, face protection) for all lab. Personal protective equipment is commonly referred to as "PPE".
• Appropriate eye protection readily available for the hazards (UV, lasers, chemicals within the laboratory
• ALL respirator users must have a medical evaluation and be fit tested on an annual basis.
• The use of powdered latex gloves is prohibited on campus. UNMC Latex Sensitivity Policy 2003

Lab Procedures

• Remove Gloves must be removed in the work area before leaving the lab and/ or touching door handles, elevator buttons, light switches, phones, etc.
• Any animal used in the laboratory must be approved for use.
• Laboratory signs designed to provide information on hazards must be updated annually.
• Laboratory equipment with hazardous information. Common include
• Biohazard Materials

General Lab safety

Other Lab Equipment

• All non-explosion refrigerators/freezers stickers stickers must have one on the front door not to store flammable liquids within the refrigerator/freezer.
• Sticker must be posted on all ice machines within the laboratory space areas is the Not for Human Consumption (to prevent the accidental ingestion of harmful items)
• Store radioactive material only in specifically designated and authorized locations. must used to post radioactive material labels

Laboratory Security

• Is there secured any acute toxins, select agents, controlled substances, and radioisotopes must be appropriately .
• Keeping laboratory areas secured prevent damaging or theft of equipment and supplies after hours.
• Wear your I`'D’s card must be worn at all times.

Laboratory Waste

• The sharps containers must be purchased is used to the 3/4 full for sharps
• Glassware/broken glass must be disposed of in container and then trash

Facilities

• Bottom of automatic sprinkler items stored at least 18 inches form the .
• Equipment and etc 2 inches from the floor
• All boxes and are the any damaged flood hazards.
• Report ceiling damaged hazards to Facilities Management 402-559-4050 OSHA to Facilities Management.

Equipment management

• Defective equipment must be label as "DO NOT USE" and submitted for the surplus
• Elevate for laboratory is clear from obstruction unit
• Cleaned flused is weekly done weekly and date recorded
• Is compressed gas cylinder appropriately cured not using a gas cylinder .

Electrical Hazards

• Inspection cracked cords and plugs used inspected to routinely to identify any frayed/exposed
• Fused current cannot be used for power strips .
• 402-559-4050 assistance with the outlets or the electricity the issue for service needs to be contacted.
• Cords must be indentified that not post short or any hazards.

Biosafety procedures

• Used to tie and twist to put into a single not in the biohazards bins.
• Use the cleaning flask the to be equip to the system with the the in-line filter
• Soap to sink with and also use Paper towels placed near sinks
• Over time the alcohol for disinfectant the may lose affect effectiveness.

All other procedures

• Labs performing must studies approved approval.
• All the with any must groups approved approval 2 of agents studies.
• Post spill all laboratories materials 2 BSL human and for from
• If the material is derived from macaques, lab must have a B-virus post-exposure kit.
• A BSL-2 spill procedure is posted on the BSC.

Learn about lab safety audits at UNMC, including their purpose, regulatory compliance, and how personnel should approach the audit process. Instructions for Principal Investigators to prepare for audits are covered. Guidelines on handling injuries and chemical inventories are discussed.