Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.74
Liaison Krista Bailey
Submission Date Oct. 20, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Pennsylvania State University
PA-12: Workplace Health and Safety

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 2.00 Lydia Vandenbergh
Assoc. Dir. Employee Engagement & Education
Sustainability Institute
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Please enter data in the table below::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of reportable workplace injuries and occupational disease cases 471 532
Full-time equivalent of employees 15,115 15,036

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year Jan. 1, 2013 Dec. 31, 2013
Baseline Year Jan. 1, 2009 Dec. 31, 2009

A brief description of when and why the workplace health and safety baseline was adopted:

The baseline year of 2009 was chosen because this is the first year that Penn State used the OSHA recordkeeping standards as the basis for tracking work-related injuries and illnesses.


A brief description of the institution’s workplace health and safety initiatives:

The Pennsylvania State University focuses on three key areas which drive our workplace health and safety efforts: Environmental Protection, Occupational Health and Safety, and Radiation Protection.
• Environmental Protection includes infectious and chemical waste management, accidental release of hazardous materials (response and cleanup), lead-based paint management, emergency response planning, underground/above ground storage tank management, and environmental assessments of property transactions.
• Occupational Health and Safety includes asbestos management, biological and laboratory safety, indoor air quality, ergonomics, fire prevention, industrial hygiene and chemical safety, and safety/accident prevention.
• Radiation Protection includes the use of radioactive materials, waste disposal of radioactive materials, and the use of radiation-producing machines, such as x-ray units and lasers.

The involvement of University faculty, staff, and technical service employees is critical to the success of our health and safety programs. Penn State established a University Safety Council over thirty years ago to represent academic and administrative units in program development and implementation. Numerous safety committees have also been established throughout the University which focus on health and safety issues within specific units and departments.

The Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is responsible for the initial development of health and safety programs. EHS routinely forms “focus groups” to obtain input from a variety of employees during the development process to ensure programs are comprehensive and effective.

All employees are encouraged to report any health or safety concerns to the appropriate University contact points. A variety of mechanisms have been established to ensure employees can efficiently report safety concerns or suggestions.


The website URL where information about the institution’s workplace health and safety initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.