Cooperative Compliance Model Between an Academic Department and EH&S – The BYU Experience Alfredo Chandia MS, CHMM, ASP Hazardous Materials Manager Risk Management, Safety & Compliance Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Historical Background May 2011, Utah DEQ’s Inspection of BYU BYU had 4 non-compliance findings Corrected and no fines See you next time . . . .

Will they return??? . . . Yes, they will! Approximately every 5 years they return . . . . . . But we’ll be ready for next time!

What do we do next or how do we improve???

What we did after the inspections We adopted Subpart K in 2012 After the Chicago Conference in 2015 and taking Dr. Turpin’s class on Lab Safety (highly recommended) the wheels in my head began to turn . . . How can I make sure (or at least try) that our labs are in compliance – Environmental perspective but also safety How could I integrate my recently acquired training and make everyone happy and get positive results. Realities: We (environmental) are in the labs more frequently Could we integrate environmental & safety aspects and still coexist? Let’s bring the players together - Chemistry and Risk Management

Chemistry Why Chemistry? Our largest customer Volume of waste Laboratories Stablished working relationship **** The lab/stockroom manager and safety rep is a known factor to the chemistry community He has their trust He fills a model I used to play while working at PNNL (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

It is all about timing!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ASA2bkXAV4 Complaints from faculty members of “too many inspections & too many people in the labs” . . . Sounds familiar? Combining Environmental & Safety Inviting Matt along – New responsibility as Safety Officer for Chemistry Reviewing current “Risk Management Safety Checklist” Involving Risk Management’s Safety “Low Hanging Fruits” Streamline the “Checklist” from approximately 173 items to 43 items to review during assessments

December 2015 BYU’s Benson Building – Chemistry

Viewer discretion is advised!!! [ WARNING] The following photo gallery contains EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING IMAGES of non-compliance in academic laboratories Viewer discretion is advised!!!

A small sample of what we found Environmental Findings: A container used to store “Unwanted Lab Material” (chemical waste) was also labeled “Clean Acetone” A container of “Unwanted Lab Material” was found open inside one of the hoods (see picture below)

Safety Findings: Poor general housekeeping throughout the laboratory

What’s next at BYU? Chemistry with Matt Allen is already engaged Biology (Rebecca) Engineering (Bryant) Physics . . . In the distant future.