Manual and Guideline | General and Chemical Safety

The basic accountability for safety is with the Chairman / Head of the department "owning" the laboratory. The Department "Head" may delegate responsibilities and to be borne in mind is that safety is in fact everybody's responsibility. The Department must therefore:

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

Note: There is a legal responsibility on employers to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that his/her employees do not suffer "harm" while at their place of work, and the actions or inactions of those employees do not cause "harm" to any-one.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

"All reasonably practicable steps" means steps that can be taken with regard to current knowledge, taking into consideration, the cost of taking those steps and the severity of the harm that could arise if they were not taken (Please refer to the Safety Policy).

GCS Section 2

Heads of Departments: What do you actually need to do (for harmful substances, etc.)

GCS Section 2

Heads of Departments: What do you actually need to do (for harmful substances, etc.)

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

GCS Section 3

General Laboratory Guidelines

GCS Section 3

General Laboratory Guidelines

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

GCS Section 4

Access to Laboratories After Hours

GCS Section 4

Access to Laboratories After Hours

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

GCS Section 5

Contracting / Tendering or Purchasing

GCS Section 5

Contracting / Tendering or Purchasing

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

GCS Section 6.a

Laboratory Safety Inspection Checklist (pdf)

GCS Section 6.a

Laboratory Safety Inspection Checklist (pdf)

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

GCS Section 6.b

Biosafety Self-Audit (SERP) Levels I and II (also for Level III should facilities become available)

GCS Section 6.b

Biosafety Self-Audit (SERP) Levels I and II (also for Level III should facilities become available)

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.

To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all staff, students, contractors and visitors.
To take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure no action(or inaction) of staff or students at work causes harm to staff, students, contractors (and contractor employees) and visitors.
To have in place a system to identify hazards, assess their potential risk and to control these in their areas of responsibility.
To ensure staff are qualified and knowledgeable in practices for which they are employed and have reasonable resources and authority to perform the duties for which they are accountable.
To ensure staff are aware of and are trained to handle hazards in their work area.
To ensure ongoing programs are in place in safety and staff are of their responsibilities.
To provide opportunity for staff to be involved with development of aware safety procedures.
To advise the USEO as soon as practical of serious accidents or near-misses.

This is safety law in a nutshell.