Safety and Risk Management Intranet

Quarterly Report for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2018

As we roll into a new semester and fiscal year, I wanted to update you on the work we’re all accomplishing and how that supports our mission to the University and Health System. You may recognize that this blog-style format is quite different from what we had prepared before. The reason for that is due to the feedback that I received from all of you during our focus group sessions over the summer. One of the commitments that I made to you was that I would improve my communication to you regarding the good work that our group is doing, my expectations of performance and to give you a forum to ask questions back.

Addressing the latter issue first, I’ve always noticed that an open door policy isn’t much of a policy if no one comes through the door. Therefore, you can ask me a question about any issue within the blog and I’ll answer to the best of my ability. If you want to send an anonymous message, then you can do so at the following: Anonymous Comment or Question. I’ll answer as a separate blog post so that the whole group can see the answer, unless requested otherwise.

Also, during a recent Division of Administration leadership session, Meredith’s team created a video for SRM. Please check out the link: SRM Video

Administrative News:

I would again like to thank and congratulate Mary Beth Taormina for her 40 years of service to VCU and VCU Health! Additionally, congratulations to Virginia Sykes with 20 years of service; Barbara Back with 10 years of service; Aaron Kaufmann with 10 years of service;  and Bill Riddell with 5 years of service. My apologies to Derek Carter, who missed the cut off date for five years of service by one day … see you next year!

The administrative team has been busy this past quarter, with Tracey and Carol processing 102 P-card transactions, 36 purchase orders and processing 56 invoices.

Additionally, Jonathan processed 200 IT requests, processed 13 IT contracts and completed 32 vendor reviews. Of note, 90 of the 200 IT issues were handled in house with an average resolution time of 1 business day, while all other transactions were completed in 3-5 business days.

From last year, our on-line learning for lab safety shows a slight increase in the number of courses taken, while the number of learners have remained largely the same. None-the-less, this is a huge improvement from 2015.

How does all this help our group?

• Carol and Tracey’s use of their P-cards to register people for professional development = Improve Professional Staff Development objective = Improve OEHS
• Jon’s review of Inspect Point software and coordination with the vendor and Tracy’s purchase of the software = Reduce Fire Safety Violations objective = Improve Risk Management
• Tracking training enables lab inspectors to confirm lab worker training was done = Reduce Lab Finding objective = Improve OEHS

This is only a portion of what the administrative team does for us and I would like to thank them for their hard work! I would also like to take the opportunity to remind all of our staff to be mindful of the administrative work load when you ask them to help you.

Office of Environmental Health and Safety News:

Laboratory Safety

News from the Lab Safety staff includes the following:

• We welcome Kabrina Tippett as our newest Lab Inspector. She has an interest in pursuing a career in our shared profession and I have no doubt that she’ll have my job in 10 – 15 years.
• VCU’s Laboratory Safety Committee had its first meeting on 10/3/17.  There were questions regarding the scope of the committee, whether it needs to include art studios, etc., and the committee name.  A subcommittee for developing a new Chemical Hygiene Plan was established.
• The team responded to a building evacuation incident at the Cary Street Gym involving pool chemicals.  It was a precautionary evacuation because the pool staff bought a new chlorination chemical that was incompatible with the old one that could have resulted in the release of chlorine gas and potentially cause an explosion. Below is a picture of Larry working the issue at the gym.
• We said farewell to Eric Fidler as he moves onto a challenging position at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).

The laboratory safety inspections include Biosafety inspections as well and involve a variety of items that are consistent with our safety policy. The missing data in the 2nd QTR of 2017 is largely due to staff turnover. Once we’re fully staffed in that area, then the inspections will be continued on a more consistent basis.

Biosafety

Inspections only make up approximately 30% of the work done by the three members of the Biosafety team, the rest are protocol reviews. Of specific note, I want to highlight that three people (Mike, Virginia and Vicky) support approximately $150,000,000 per year in research through these protocol reviews.

Radiation Safety

Of note for the quarter:

• We welcome Sara Adams as our new Radiation Safety Specialist. Sara comes to us with a great deal of knowledge and is a veteran of the US Navy!
• Holly Dean and Mary Beth Taormina attended the 17^th Annual Radiation Safety Roundtable at Penn State University. Valuable information was shared among radiation safety professionals during presentations and roundtable discussions and several new ideas for implementation into VCU’s Radiation Safety dosimetry program are being evaluated.
• A significant leak in the ceiling has prompted a clean-out and reorganization of the radiation safety cold room.  Contractors were hired by FMD to seal all openings and clean fan coils for the refrigeration unit.  An evaluation of the integrity of the ceiling is ongoing and replacement may be necessary.  The work is on-going.

On average the Radiation Safety team completes 54 inspections per quarter, the results of which are shown below:

Industrial Hygiene

Valerie has been accomplishing great things and has been very busy, but one of the items that I wanted to highlight was her work in the Gross Anatomy Lab. Her identification of the ventilation issues in the gross anatomy lab and the subsequent corrective work done by facilities is a testament to her diligence, professionalism and persistence.

Risk Management and Insurance News:

Steve and Monee are currently carrying on the good fight in Dave’s absence. The following are the highlights of their work:

• Completed the annual crash statistics report for the Virginia State police. Reported 18 chargeable accidents, 10 non chargeable accidents and 9 incidents for FY17. VCU owned vehicles were driven slightly more than 1,000,000 miles during this period.
• Investigated three liability claims brought against the university. Two involved slip/fall injuries; one was for damage to personal property.
• Settled three state property claims, including a mechanical fire at the Cary Street Gym – recovered $53,600. Also settled 6 auto claims, receiving payments totaling $7,642.
• Scored motor vehicle records for 78 new drivers. Of these, 29 have completed all required training.

Fire Safety

I’m pleased to announce that the Fire Safety team have begun implementation of the Peer Review that was completed last fiscal year. They have started to take charge of the Fire Drills from the occupational safety group and are managing the fire extinguisher inspections via third parties. Additionally, with a recent new hire, the scheduling of activities between campuses will be coordinated through one system. It’s my intent in this to assure that consistency in our methodology leads to consistency in the outcomes between the two campuses.

For our metrics, Fire Safety track their data by calendar year, rather than fiscal year. In 2017 there have been 15 smoke related issues (or near misses) and 2 actual fires. All the near misses were related to food preparation in dorm rooms.

The total number of fire alarms have been consistent between calendar years.

Fire system issues are as follows involved the sprinkler system in the West Hospital, which was off-line on 15 AUG in order to replace the fire pump.

Occupational Safety

The occupational safety team has changed the way that they catalog inspections so that they are more consistent with the safety policy. They’ve been at this for three quarters now and it appears that inspection violations are decreasing this past quarter.

Additionally – and more importantly – there has been a 30% decline in the number of workplace injuries this past fiscal year (FY17) when compared to the previous fiscal year, with a corresponding decline in lost work days. This can be a changing metric as people report chronic injuries, but is good news overall.

Of note however, is the rise in more severe injuries among the Facilities staff. Christine, Aaron and Mike are working on additional training for the Facilities staff.