Environmental Health & Safety Department
The UMass Chan Environmental Health & Safety Department mission is to provide a safe environment to all people associated with the institution. This includes assuring the facility complies with applicable municipal, state, federal, and other recognized standards involved with safety. The department is responsible for monitoring the use of hazardous materials; ensuring that work is conducted in a safe manner, and that the safety of the personnel and the general environmental safety of the institution is overseen.
- All lab personnel are required to attend the RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) training upon being hired during orientation, and annually thereafter, which deal with hazardous waste management. Currently this training is being offered as an online course, employees will be notified yearly. EH&S BioSafety Manual
- EH&S offers many other courses such as: Biosafety Cabinet Training, Biological Packing and Shipping, and Ergonomics. EH&S Training
- All hazardous waste must be stored in the labs (in marked areas) and then collected for pick up in labeled waste bottles. Waste Pickup Request
- For a spills under 1L (excluding highly toxic spills), the lab personnel should clean up using the appropriate chemical spill kit. Afterwards, Operations should be called @ x63292 to report the spill. For spills greater than 1L, contact Operations @ x63292 for appropriate cleanup. For unknown chemical spills or mercury, call Operations ASAP.
- The Biological Health & Safety Program has many useful links for recombinant DNA work, etiologic agents, and general biosafety work.
- The Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) is responsible for the establishment and implementation of guidelines and practices governing safe usage of infectious agents, recombinant DNA, bio-toxins and human samples within the research laboratories. Contact Samuel Varghese for more information.