OP 040 - Environmental Health And Safety

Responsibilities

ESH Function: The ESH Function shall identify and interpret (through the publication of Procedures) applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations pertaining to occupational and environmental safety and health topics. It shall educate the college community regarding regulatory compliance mandates, assist departments and business units in executing these requirements and audit compliance actions, including the review and approval of departmental procedures.

College Community: It is the responsibility of the college community to adhere to all applicable government regulations pertaining to safety and health as outlined in this Policy and all related guidelines.

Policy

CWI is committed to maintaining safe campus environments for students, employees, volunteers, and visitors by ensuring compliance with relevant statutes and regulations pertaining to environmental health and safety. All business departments will work to provide environments, facilities, equipment, and training that meet applicable federal, state, and local Environmental Safety and Health (ESH) laws, rules, and regulations. They will adopt appropriate standards and procedures to ensure compliance with ESH. CWI ESH, through the ESH Coordinator, is delegated the responsibility of preparing detailed Procedures that outline regulatory compliance requirements. CWI departments, administrators, managers, faculty, and staff are required to comply with Procedures established by CWI ESH for the purpose of compliance.

Guidelines

CWI’s ESH Guidelines are established by the CWI ESH Coordinator to assist in identifying, preventing, and correcting hazards in the workplace.
This policy endorses programs which:

• Provide safe and healthful conditions and reduce injuries and illnesses to the lowest possible level. No task is so important and no service so urgent that it cannot be performed safely.
• Assure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local regulations providing for environmental safety and health.
• Provide information, training, and safeguards to faculty, staff, and students regarding health and safety hazards, and to the surrounding community regarding environmental health hazards arising from operations and events at CWI.
• Install and maintain facilities and equipment in accordance with recognized and accepted standards essential to reduce or prevent exposure to hazards by faculty, staff, students, and visitors.
• Provide appropriate personal protective equipment to all employees at CWI’s expense when engineering controls are not adequate to minimize exposure.
• Provide medical surveillance as required by law and as may be dictated by existing circumstances or programs.

The EHS Coordinator has authority to establish the following requirements through written Procedures. Procedures will include the following:

• Departmental support, participation, and compliance with this Procedure.
• Departmental commitment to establishing a culture of health and safety across the college.
• Adequate training for specific workplace responsibilities.
• Thorough and regular self‐inspections that are intended to prevent hazards from occurring.
• Hazardous condition reporting mechanisms designed to ensure that employees can report potentially hazardous conditions without fear of reprisal and that such reports will receive prompt and serious attention.
• Established and maintain systems and procedures which assure that workplace equipment and instrumentation are maintained in safe and good working conditions.
• Procedures to investigate any workplace accidents, near‐miss incidents, and reported injuries and illnesses.
• Correction of all hazards as expeditiously as possible once identified. If a hazard cannot be corrected for any reason, employees will be prohibited from working with continued exposure to the identified hazard.

Providing a safe and healthful environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors is the responsibility of all members of the CWI Community. Ultimate responsibility for establishing and maintaining the ESH Programs at CWI rests with the President and President’s Cabinet of CWI.

Primary responsibility for the environmental health and safety of the workplace belongs to each CWI employee. Employees functioning in a supervisory role have a heightened responsibility to ensure that safe conditions, practices, and training are provided and followed within their areas of control. Members of the CWI community shall cooperate fully with all aspects of CWI’s ESH Policy, Guidelines, and Procedures.

The ESH Coordinator establishes Procedures based on legal requirements, best practices, benchmarking of similar institutions, and reference to the following health and safety standards:

• Idaho Division of Building Safety (IDBS)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) General Industry, Title 29, § 1910 and/or General Construction, Title 29, § 1926
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards and Regulations
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
• Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ)
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Work environments at CWI may be subject to compliance inspections conducted by internal groups (ESH or Third-Party Auditors) or state or federal regulatory agencies. In many instances, departments will have advance notice of the intended inspection; however, in some cases outside regulatory personnel may conduct unannounced inspections. In the event of an unscheduled inspection, regulatory personnel shall be asked to provide proper identification. Additionally, employees should contact their direct supervisor and ESH Coordinator to notify them of the inspection. Employees should expect to have work environments inspected by the ESH Coordinator on a yearly basis. Corrective actions identified through the course of an inspection will be implemented with the aid of the ESH department.

CWI employees perform a wide range of functions in various locations. Although some safety rules apply only to specific positions, all employees are expected to comply with the following procedures:

• Use common sense in performing duties.
• Report any work injury or illness to a supervisor.
• Report unsafe conditions to a supervisor or safety committee member.
• Do not use any equipment, vehicles, or materials when overly tired, nauseated, feverish or under the influence of any substance that may affect judgment.
• Keep the work area neat and tidy.
• Use mechanical devices or request assistance in lifting heavy loads.
• Wear seat belts when operating any company or rented vehicle or driving a personal vehicle while on company business.
• Do not use tops of cabinets or bookcases for extra storage or displays.
• Be sure that aisles or exits are kept clear; do not let cords interfere with walkways.
• Keep paper clips, tacks, pins, and other objects off the floors.
• Properly store all sharp objects when not in use.
• Open and close doors cautiously and use extra caution at blind hallway intersections.
• Open only one file cabinet drawer at a time to avoid tipping over the cabinet. Cabinets should also be loaded from bottom to top and emptied in the reverse order.
• Report or clean up all spills immediately.
• Use stepstools, platforms, or ladders for climbing. Never use chairs.
• Report or replace frayed electrical cords.
• Use applicable ESH Procedures relevant to the operation
• Read and be familiar with Emergency Handbook content
• Follow manufactures’ safety guidelines regarding all devices (tools, equipment, machinery, electrical, hardware, office-classroom furniture, etc.)

Individuals failing to follow established Procedures related to ESH will be subject to appropriate corrective action up to and including termination of employment or expulsion. Support and resources on various ESH topics can be found by employees on the “myCWI” page or by contacting the ESH office.

CWI employees, students and contractors will be provided sufficient training and information to perform activities in a safe and healthful manner. These trainings will be provided by the ESH Department in collaboration with CWI leadership. Further resources including material handling, evacuation, and safety guides will be posted in appropriate locations as necessary.

CWI employees are required to report to their immediate supervisor any on the job “injury” or “illness” or what they believe to be an on-the-job injury or illness as soon as reasonably possible after the injury or illness occurs.

CWI employees are also required to report any injury or illness reported to them by the campus community to their supervisor.

The supervisor and the employee will submit an Accident Incident Report to Risk Management and ensure that other reporting requirements are met. Risk Management will maintain these records on file, and they will be made available to the ESH office or federal, state, and local agencies upon request.

General concerns of employees, students, or visitors may be made to the ESH department, Security Office, Faculty, Supervisor, or Safety Committee Member. In addition, CWI provides for anonymous reporting through the Ethics Hotline.

Essential records, including those legally required for workers’ compensation insurance, insurance audits and regulatory inspections, shall be maintained as required by law. Records will be kept that include the following:

• Scheduled and periodic inspections to identify unsafe conditions and work practices. .
• ESH training records for each CWI employee.
• Maintain all equipment certifications demonstrating regulatory compliance.

Employee occupational and exposure records must be maintained for the duration of the respective employee’s employment with CWI, plus an additional thirty (30) years.
All such employee occupational records are exempt from disclosure as employee health records pursuant to Idaho Code 74-106.

CWI recognizes that employees, their designated representatives, authorized representatives of the Idaho Department of Labor and other state or federal agencies may have a right of access to relevant exposure and medical records as authorized by law. When a request for these records is made, CWI shall assure that access is provided in a reasonable time, place, and manner and in accordance with applicable state, federal, or local law.