July 15, 1995

A new policy issued June 12, 1995 establishes requirements for safety reviews of new and renovated facilities and equipment. The policy is jointly promulgated by senior vice president for business and finance C. William Fischer and vice president for research and graduate studies C. William Kern. It links review processes of Facilities Management, ORS, and Office of Risk Management/Division of Safety and Loss Prevention. The reviews cover facilities and equipment involving potential physical or health hazards, nuisance processes or materials, and activities impacting building systems. 

Three circumstances require implementation of the policy: 

a) planning for new or renovated facilities 

b) planning for functional changes to facilities such as installation of new equipment 

c) expanding or relocating current research utilizing potentially hazardous equipment, processes, chemicals, radioactive materials, and biological agents to new or renovated facilities. 

An example of a qualifying renovation would be conversion of a space originally designed as an office to laboratory use. The conversion could be as simple as installing a biological safety cabinet, or an incubator. The department needing to make the physical change to the building submits written requirements to Facilities Management. Those offices forward the information to ORS, and ORS coordinates the review with the Safety Division and reports back to Facilities Management. 

ORS distributed the policy to deans, department heads, center and facility directors on June 29. You may contact ORS directly for a copy of the policy and a list of activities requiring review.