At UNC, labs are on a safety inspection schedule. For instance, the Strahl and Cook labs have inspections quarterly, while the Kuhlman lab, because it does currently utilze radioactive materials, has only an annual inspection. Typically, lab inspections will be conducted by UNC Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) personnel. However, note that inspections can be done at any point by state and federal agency personnel, as well as insurance underwriters.
Self-inspections of your lab help ensure that the lab stays safe, and also helps lab members prepare for an official EHS inspection. Of course, a self-inspection can be done at any time by any lab member, but it is especially important that it be done prior to official EHS inspections. In order to help lab members prepare for these inspections, EHS at UNC has provided a very handy, detailed, three-page checklist for laboratories, which can be found here. (If this link is broken, navigate to UNC’s EHS website, and click Laboratory in the main menu at the top of the page. Once there, click Laboratory Inspection Program from the menu on the left of the page. The document can be found under the heading Laboratory Inspection Information.)
Below is an essential checklist of the most fundamental things to look for in preparation for an EHS inspection. These items will undoubtedly need attention as many of them require updated records since the previous inspection.
- Do I have all relevant monthly radiation inventories in my lab safety notebook? In the Cook and Strahl labs, an inventory report is required at the first of each month.
- Do I have all relevant monthly radiation wipes?
- Do I have relevant Geiger counter survey sheets, one per month?
- Do I have all past EHS inspection reports and radioactivity records for the past three years?
- Are all lab members’ EHS trainings up to date?
- Is my Lab Safety Plan up to date? Note that it must be updated yearly.
- Are my eyewash station records up to date?
- Is my chemical inventory up to date? Note that it must be updated yearly. Our chemical inventory is located here. (In the event this link is broken, navigate to http://ehs.cloudapps.unc.edu/ChemInventory/.)
- Are appropriate waste container labels for unwanted materials in use? These labels can be obtained here. (In the event this link is broken, navigate to http://ehs.unc.edu/files/2018/02/unwanted-material-2×3-full-sheet.pdf.)
- Have I walked through the lab to verify that everything is in order utilizing this checklist found here?