University of California, Santa Barbara
PA-12: Workplace Health and Safety

The Department of Environmental Health and Safety at UC Santa Barbara provides guidance and services to the campus community to promote the integration of health, safety, and environmental stewardship to all University activities. Programs have been in place for a number of decades, but the baseline of 2005/2006 for STARS was selected to fit within the parameter period that aligned with other categories of reporting.

There are multiple health and safety programs on campus, generally administered through Environmental Health & Safety. EH&S Divisions include: Environmental Health; Waste Management; Emergency Management; Radiation Safety; Biological Safety; Laboratory Safety; Fire Marshall; Workers’ Compensation; Ergonomics; Risk Management & Insurance and Industrial Hygiene. The over-arching worker safety programs is the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) and is the most important health and safety regulation/program on campus, and in California. The IIPP law is administered by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA). In short, this law requires employers to establish the following foundation safety program elements that apply to all workers regardless of their particular job duties: Ensure that workers are trained in, and comply with, safe work practices Inspect for and correct unsafe/unhealthy work conditions as soon as possible Maintain documentation of all training and inspections Encourage workers to report unsafe conditions (Hazard Reporting Form) without fear of reprisal Communicate safety issues in a way that is understandable to all workers Report and investigate all occupational injuries How is the IIPP Implemented at UC Santa Barbara? As with all campus worker safety programs, the primary implementers of the IIPP are supervisors, faculty and their department administrations (see campus policy #5400). The role of EH&S is to inform campus administrators of their IIPP responsibilities and to provide them appropriate tools to assist with implementation. These tools include: Each department must have a written IIPP program as required by Cal-OSHA. Your local written plan should be maintained by your Department Safety Rep within the UCSB Health and Safety Binder. All employees have the right to see their written program upon request. Per Cal-OSHA, each employee must be made aware of their employer's IIPP and their responsibilities under their plan. The best way to achieve this is to have all employees view the most appropriate online training session: Office Supervisors Physical Laborer Supervisor Non-Supervisor (All employees in non-supervisory role) Laboratory Workers (IIPP is covered as part of a broader training module) Most modules take about 15 minutes to complete and also there is an overview of campus emergency preparedness and response procedures. Within each of the supervisor's modules are the generic forms designed to assist in meeting the training and inspection documentation requirements (IIPP Forms) noted above in #1 - 3. Injury and Illness Prevention Program Contact: Hector Acuna, x 8243 (substitute Jesse Bickley, x-8787) Hector.Acuna@ehs.ucsb.edu (Jesse.Bickley@ehs.ucsb.edu) Each dept./unit has a safety bulletin board to post basic health and safety information, including: A Cal/OSHA "Safety and Health Protection on the Job" poster The UCSB Emergency Information Flipchart (also posted in many rooms on campus) The “Hazard Reporting Form”

Additional programs under Environmental Health & Safety can be found at: http://ehs.ucsb.edu/