THE UNIV=RSITY CF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM March 27,2018 To the 2018 CSHEMA Awards and Recognition Committee: On behalf of the University of Alab ama atBirmingham, Emergency Management, Office of Occupational Health & Safety, I am writing to give my enthusiastic endorsement to UAB's Reseárch Safety submission for the 2018 CSIIEMA Innovation Award This includes the following submissions: Process Improvement: Innovative Method of Training; A Tiered Approach to Laboratory Safety and Emergency Response Training: Providing Hands-On, Cost Effective Training to a Large Group of Students This innovative method of training has greatly benefitted the University of Alabama at Birmingham by developing a safety training program that is cost effective, easy to implement across the educational spectrum, is practical enough to train thousands of students per year and links theory and practice This helps to improve safety conditions in our laboratories and other work places along with saving time and resources Thank you for this opportunity and we look forward to hearing from you very soon' SincerelTa DL),( K/z.u^X_l h.andy Pewitt, MPH Executive Director of Emergency Managetnent and Safety Occupational Health & Safety The Universify of Alabama at Birmingham Occupational Health and Safety 445 Community Health Services Building 933 19th Street South 205.934.2487 Fax 2O5.934.7487 www healthsafe uab edu Mailing Address: cH19 445 1530 3RD AVE S BIRMINGHAM AL 35294.2041 THE UNIVERSITY CF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM t- March 27,2018 To the 2018 CSHEMA Awards and Recognition Committee Regarding presentation: A Tiered Approach to Laboratory Safety and Emergency Response Training: Providing Hands-on, Cost Effective Training to a Large Group of Students writing in support of the above presentation for a CSHEMA innovation award I believe that the group has put together a projection that enhances our safety culture here at UAB They developed this approach in response to a request from one of the departments at UAB after an incident in a lab showed that the lab teaching assistants were not adequately prepared for such events This training was so well received that we extended an invitation to other departments or were invited by other departments to provide the presentation campus wide I believe that this approach can be used by other institutions to promote a safe and healthy environment for our undergraduate labs I am By providing online training the hope is to address a larger number of students, especially undergraduate students that were not being reached before By combining online PowerPoint presentations and videos and quizzes the goal is to provide meaningful and applicable training in a way that promotes greater retention of the subject matter The hands-on portion is intended to reinforce the information provided by online and didactic tra¡ning sessions The hope is that the teaching assistants and graduate students will be better prepared to respond appropriately and timely should, an incident occur in their labs Exelutlve DireL.tof of fety and Medical Director of Occu ine UAB Occupational Health & Safety University of Alabama at Birmingham Occupational Health and Safety 445 Community Health Services Building 933 1gth Street South 205.934.2487 Fax 205.934.7487 www healthsafe uab edu Mailing Address: cH19 445 1530 3RD AVE S BIRMINGHAM AL 35294-2041 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY Knowledge that will change your world 2018 CSHEMA Innovation Award Process Improvement: Innovative Method of Training or Educational Course A Tiered Approach to Laboratory Safety and Emergency Response Training: Providing Hands-on, Cost Effective Training to a Large Group of Students Problem: In the Fall Semester of 2016, an undergraduate student had a sulfuric acid splash accident in a teaching lab The teaching assistants and students panicked and delayed decontamination response by seeking a faculty member to ask for permission to use the safety shower and identifr its location The delayed response caused the student to suffer injury that may have been lessened or negated While this incident was fresh, we asked some hard questions: How could this be prevented? Why was existing training ineffective? How can training and emergency plans be revised? What is the best approach to train thousands of students on emergency response? Solution: A Tiered Approach to Safety Training with a Hands'on component Our goal was to develop a safety training program that is: ' Cost effective Easy to implement across the educational spectrum Links theory and practice through a hands-on component in emergency response Is practical enough to train thousands ofstudents during a year OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY t- Knowledge that will change your world The tiered approach (trvo tiers) divides graduate students and teaching assistants (TAs) into an advanced tier (Tier II) and undergraduate students into a basic tier (Tier I) of training I t, ) tt *-./ Who is Responsible for Training? Tier-II TAs/Graduate Students Enrolled into a two-part training: l An online course based on the R.A.M.P (Recognize the Hazards, Assess the Risk, Manage the hazards and Prepare for Emergencies) framework of risk management The course consists of four standard modules, plus an additional department specific safety module A daylong hands-on safety workshop where students will practice on: r Operating safety shower/eyewash Using fire extinguishers Cleaning up spills Conducting risk assessment and choosing appropriate PPE Emergency response/evacuation and shelter in place OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY t- Knowledge that will change your world The training is presented in the teaching labs so that TAs can get familiarized with their specific lab and safety equipment location, exits, etc Each student receives a safety handbook "Everything to know about safety in labs" at the end of the session Tier-I Undergraduate Students Undergraduate students enrolled in teaching labs r will be trained online Safety videos, a short course and a qniz before the first lab session Every lab session will begin with a brief experiment specific safety talk by the TAs and familiarization with the location and use of safety equipment How does the training work? Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) has developed an online safety training based on the R.A.M.P concept that can be assigned to students as needed When OH&S schedules the date of the hands-on training with each department (Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Engineering etc.), the department provides a list of graduate students and TAs for that semester The students will receive an assignment for the online training through the Learning Management System (LMS) and will be notifìed about the hands-on training date by the department (training time-line for Chemistry is below) Online training is a prerequisite for the hands-on workshop OH&S prepares safety-training kits for different sessions involved in the hands-on training and facilitates the training Undergraduate students are assigned to an online safety training involving modules, videos and quiz, as part of the course registration and completion of the training is a OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY /- Knowledge that will change your world prerequisite for attending the lab TAs review safety equipment, location and experiment specific safety concerns with the undergraduate students at the beginning of every lab 2017 TA TralnlngÂgeda - ChemlstrY 120 Âugust 25ô, 10:O0 1-1 1.{5 August t}t Persoml hotective Equ¡pment (PPE) Exerrtse Prcscnt ¡ sce¡¡rio, ronduct a r¡sk ¡ssessmenl and pick thÊ right o luch brcek (dcpe¡tm€Dt 1lLls -2.*5Pn fltMde ltrto week fEspond) (ell of leb sef:ty rtefrl 11:45 - 12.30 Pll: Znd o i¡to Foups of20 ercù) (Dh'ide June Fire Exringuisher training PowerPoint (different types of lres md ottiaguishers and how l0-1S vohnt€ers for handson May-June - 1O45 /lll: sildents ó prcYtded lunch ¡¡d l¡b PPE and sefety vidcol 8tol¡p¡-th¡dcnt¡ 5ta''5 md lnsFucbrs rotatc) Emelgency response Frmitiarize with safety equipment: location and operation o e o e c August Week August 4rh Unde4nttrke ü¿Mard¡bry week {}tllneTnlnlry Fírst day of Tß EneBencl Teaching lab equlpmem& o fËPonte, Firstaid Ïireexfngrrisher/firebl¡nket Glove remov¡l demonsE¡tion ¡¡d Responsetochenicalspill Small spill response c o òeylấ$f Undergrad Eyewash Spillkitfhowtoputtogetỵraspillkt] I prrtite Studenrpracticespillcleanup Lar6espill Hotptogethelp: ' ' [mergencYPhonenumbers Evacu¡tign Cont¡ct info for spill response team Spillonanindividual ' RÊsponse Proc€ss Demotrstrâtion and practice ofsafety shower Chemical Fume Hoods o Howtoworkinafumehood Emergency Evæuatiot: Ev¡cu¡tion and shelter ia placc ldentify the rouæ and grthering poilts Hazardous Chemicai Wasæ flandling Satellite Âeumulation ,trea e mffiæ Cost of Implementation for Chemistry Department OH&S provided hands-on training to 128 TAs/Grads (Tier II) in the Chemistry Department during the fall semester and they trained 1500 undergrads (Tier I) The cost of training/student was $1.55 with staff salary and $0.43 without staff salary $able) drrs up OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY t- Knowledge that will change your world Qr¡rdty I I Cort S48 TA'sTrained $120 s¡Áilor t sso 5S StrdenuTrained byTA's 51 687 $+s $tso $¿o 54s Tobl(¡$ Touluith ¡aleri$ $t,¡¡Z per Student $1.55 Applicability at Other Institutions Any institution could easily implement this training method to provide effective handson, face-to-face safety training to a large number of students at once in a very cost effective way Our training approach allows students to not only receive classroom instructions but to also experience practical applications in a controlled environment Hands-on training helps students achieve a higher level of knowledge and skill Learning by doing ensures students will remember their safety training and use those skills in emergency an