1.         GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY

 

The Safety Officer at the University of Tennessee at Martin will review all reports of accident or injury on campus and of damage to University property.  Recommendations after investigation will be submitted to correct campus safety hazards and/or ineffective procedures.  These recommendations will be made to the appropriate departments for abatement of the hazard or of the procedure.

 

The Safety Officer will recommend and/or provide programs designed to promote safety and safety awareness.

 

2.         PURCHASE AND DESIGN OF SAFETY EQUIPMENT

 

The Safety Officer will serve as a resource for the purchase and design of safety and health equipment to campus departments as needed.  Before a department purchases or acquires safety equipment, the department may review their specific needs with the Safety Officer.

 

3.         SAFETY AND HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCE

 

The Safety Officer will maintain a collection of current safety materials, catalogues and brochures which will be available to any department as requested.  The Safety Officer will solicit, as requested, any material from libraries of safety-related topics, and will assist in obtaining training materials necessary to support the maintenance of a safe campus environment.

 

4.         SAFETY AND HEALTH TRAINING

 

The Safety Officer will, on request or as a result of identifying the need for specific training, provide or assist departments in obtaining training for safety-related topics.  These areas will include, but not be limited to, the topics of:

 

A.        Fire prevention

B.        Fire extinguisher usage

C.        Emergency preparedness

D.        Right-to-Know training

E.         Bloodborne pathogen training

F.         Other health and safety topics as necessary

 

5.         ACCIDENT AND INCIDENT REPORTS AND ANALYSIS

 

Reports of accidents and incidents of injury or property damage will be forwarded to the Safety Officer from the appropriate department.  These reports will be maintained by the Safety Officer.  Each serious accident involving bodily injury or property damage will require an investigation to be conducted, or caused to be conducted, by the Safety Officer.  This investigative report will be filed (with the original if a second report is required) and maintained by the Safety Officer.  Copies will be sent to university officials as needed (Personnel Services, Risk Manager, Student Health or other departments in whose responsibility the information is necessary).

 

The OSHA 300 logs of accidents will be maintained by the Safety Officer.  The Worker Compensation files will be maintained by Personnel Services.

 

6.         SAFETY INSPECTION

 

The Safety Officer will conduct, or cause to be conducted, a safety inspection of all facilities on an annual basis.  The findings will be documented on an inspection survey form denoting items requiring abatement.  When possible, the building representative will assist in the inspection of the facility.  The hazards for abatement will be reported to the appropriate department for corrective action.  The department will notify the Safety Officer of the date of correction as requested by the Safety Officer at the initial advisement.  The department may explain the reason for non-abatements in writing (i.e., budgetary, parts ordered, etc.) with a proposed abatement date.  The Safety Officer will maintain these inspection and abatement files (example form included).

 

The abatements performed by Maintenance will be indicated on a computer printout available after the 15th of each month.  In addition to the annual inspection, the Safety Officer will advise departments of other safety hazards for correction as noted.

7.         CAMPUS SAFETY AND HEALTH MANUAL

 

The Safety Officer will be responsible for updating and distributing the Campus Safety and Health Manual to all departmental chairpersons on campus.  The safety manual provides general rules and establishes basic policies and procedures for campus safety and health.  The Safety Officer will advise in the formulation of specific procedures to insure that the policies are followed.  It is the responsibility of each department to support and enforce the policies and procedures which are contained in the safety manual.

 

The Safety Officer will review the safety manual on an annual basis to determine the currency of procedures and make updates as necessary to the safety manual.  These updates, changes, or revisions will be distributed to departmental chairpersons.

 

8.         OCCUPATION HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT

 

The Safety Officer will comply with the requirements of the Tennessee Occupational Health and Safety Act and other similar state and federal laws including the maintenance of necessary campus safety records.

 

The Safety Officer will have the responsibility to report to the Risk Manager, Personnel Services, and the Systems Safety Office any significant breach of conformance to these laws.  All inspections that are made by the Safety Officer will be directed toward compliance with the Tennessee Occupational Health and Safety Standards.  All records and documents will be maintained in the Safety Office in a manner so as to provide immediate reference or availability to appropriate authorities on request.

 

9.         ANNUAL HEALTH AND SAFETY REPORT

 

The campus Safety Officer will prepare an annual report of the health and safety activities occurring during the past fiscal year (beginning July 1 of the previous year through June 30 of the present year).  The report will be prepared for the review and information of the chief administrative officer of the campus (the chancellor) and forwarded to the Systems Safety Office by July 15, or the UWA designated date.  The content and/or format of this report will be provided by the Systems Safety Office prior to its due date.