COE Safety Manual

The purpose of this program is to help and provide safety training to new employees that will be able to utilize this resource to educate employees on determining dangerous situations and help with specific hazards in their workplace to prevent injury or illness.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 1- Safety Training New Employee Orientation Program

This policy is set at the University of Madison-Wisconsin College of Engineering to ensure reporting, suitable recording, and investigation of all accidents, incidents, and near misses.  The goal is to identify the root cause(s) and necessary controls to prevent similar incidents from occurring while protecting students, staff, and faculty from workplace injury and disease(s).

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 2 – Accident &Incident Reporting & Investigation Program

The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidance to students, staff, or faculty on what to do in the event of an emergency. An emergency is any immediate threat to life and/or property that requires immediate response.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 3 – Emergency Response Procedures

The purpose of the written hazard communication program is to ensure that:

• Hazardous chemicals present in the workplace are properly labeled and identified.
• Employees have access to information on the chemicals and their hazards (Safety Data Sheets (SDS).• Identify the employee’s job title, person responsible for maintaining the program, SDS, labeling, training, etc.
• This written program is available to all students, faculty, and staff to review the program.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 4 – Hazard Communication Hazard

The purpose of this program is to protect workers from hazards that may be due to confined spaces, which may include sewers, pits, boilers, tanks, bins, and compartments. This procedure complies with OSHA CFR 1910.146.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 5 – Confined Space Program

The College of Engineering’s Lockout/Tagout (LO/TO) program is designed to protect employees from hazardous energy in the workplace and prevent injury during the servicing and maintenance of machines where unexpected start-up or energizing could cause personal injury. All sources of energy, including but not limited to electric, hydraulic, mechanical, chemical, thermal, or pneumatic, shall be shut down and locked out in the OFF position during service or maintenance of equipment. All lockouts must prevent the accidental operation and/or release of energy and be verified by employees who will be doing work in and around the locked-out equipment.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 6 – Control of Hazardous Energy (LOTO)

The Engineering Machine Guarding Program is designed to prevent worker exposure to any machine part, function, or process which may cause injury. No employee shall operate machinery without proper protective guards in place or modify/disable any protective guards on machinery without contacting the Lab Manager for such approval. The Engineering Machine Guard Program complies with OSHA Regulation 29 CFR 1928.57 & 1910 subpart O & P.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 7 – Machine Guarding Program

The purpose of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) program is to ensure that proper PPE is provided to protect workers from potential hazards in the workplace.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 8 – Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Program

The purpose of this fall protection program is to establish guidelines to protect all staff, faculty, and students engaged in outdoor or indoor work activities that expose them to potential falls from elevations of four feet or greater.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 9 – Fall Protection Program

The purpose of this program is to provide an overview of shop safety controls to prevent injuries/illnesses associated with shop areas. Shop areas can be one of the most utilized facilities in the College of Engineering. The work performed here is often critical to the success of research projects and the general operation of the Labs. Safe work practices are important and are to be used by every employee on every job. Employees may only operate equipment they have been trained and authorized to use by supervisory personnel.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 10 – Shop Safety Program

The purpose of this program is to provide an overview of various elevated work equipment and the necessary safety information in order to control and minimize incidents and injuries.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 11 – Elevated Work Surfaces (Scaffolds & Ladders)

The purpose of this program is to provide an overview of general laboratory safety guidelines to reduce the risk of injury or illness when working in a laboratory. The information provided does not cover all laboratory health and safety guidelines. Before working in a laboratory, employees shall understand the hazards and the health and safety rules established for that specific laboratory and review the UW laboratory safety guidelines.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 12 – Laboratory Safety Program

The purpose of this program is to inform students, staff, and faculty of the risks of heat related illnesses by providing an overview of various heat related illnesses, risk factors, and prevention techniques. Students, staff, and faculty may be at risk of heat stress when working in extreme heat or hot environments. This can result in occupational illnesses and injuries.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 13 – Heat Illness Prevention Program

The purpose of this program is to help reduce the risk of cold related illness and injuries. This will provide and overview of cold stress, risk factors, and prevention techniques. Cold stress occurs when the body temperature goes way down cools down the your core body temperature. When this occurs, it may lead to serious illness, body damage/issues, and even death.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 14 – Cold Stress Safety Program

The purpose of the Powered Industrial Truck (PIT) program is to create a safe working environment for all students, staff, and faculty working around PITs, ensure proper care and maintenance, and to prevent incidents from occurring. This procedure is based off OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178. PIT includes forklifts, platform lifts, motorized hand trucks, and other specialized industrial trucks powered by motors or engines.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 15 – Forklift and Powered Industrial Truck Safety Program

Occupational safety and health regulations mandate that employers implement and maintain a written management protection program to protect the safety of every employee that wears respiratory protection for any reason, whether voluntarily for comfort or by employer mandate for health protection.

The purpose of this program is to assure that each respirator user is adequately protected from air contaminants of concern under routine and emergency situations; that respirators are kept clean, sanitary, and maintained in a good operating condition; and that respirators are used by employees who have been properly fitted and trained.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 16 – Respiratory Protection Program

The primary purpose of the hearing conservation program is to prevent occupational noise induced hearing loss for employees. A secondary purpose of the program is to provide guidance to comply with state and federal standards. Managers and supervisors are responsible for the establishment and maintenance of good health and safety practices in their respective areas. The goal of the program is to ensure that students, staff, and faculty exposures to noise will be evaluated, and whenever necessary, steps shall be taken to conserve employees’ hearing through the use of engineering controls, hearing protection devices, training, and other accepted measures.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 17 – Hearing Conservation Program

The bloodborne pathogens program (BBP) prevents exposures to human blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) that may contain disease-causing viruses such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV per the OSHA 1910.1030 standard. The Environmental & Occupational Health unit (EOH) manages the university BBP program for non-research environments and the environmental, Health, & Safety department (EHS) coordinates the university’s research BBP program. CoE departments must determine if they are required to have a BBP
program and if so, which program (research or non-research) should be followed. If a program is required, the department shall complete the necessary paperwork as required by EOH or EHS and attach a copy of the program to this section of the manual.

The EHS department coordinates the research bloodborne pathogens program

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 18 – Bloodborne Pathogens Program

A job hazard assessment (JHA) is a technique that focuses on job tasks as a way to identify hazards before they occur. It focuses on the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools, and the work environment. Once the hazards have been identified and
evaluated, controls can be implemented to prevent or mitigate the hazards. The College of Engineering Safety Department encourages students, staff, and faculty to use this process to evaluate their current workstations.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 19 – Job Hazard Analysis Program

The purpose of a hot work program is to ensure employee safety while performing hot work operations such welding and cutting. Welding, cutting, and other processes that produce molten metal, sparks, slag, and hot work surfaces can cause fire or explosion if precautionary measures are not followed. This program is designed to comply with OSHA 29 CFR 1910.251 through 1910.255

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 20 – Hot Work Program

The purpose of this program is to provide an overview of proper compressed gas cylinder handling, use, and storage so that employees have knowledge necessary to prevent injuries/illnesses resulting from the handling, storage, and use of compressed gas cylinders.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 21 – Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety Program

The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidance on the safe use of crane and hoist equipment to prevent injuries and property damage.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 22 – Crane & Hoist Safety Program

The purpose of this program is to help prevent or reduce injuries/illnesses resulting from manual material handling.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 23 – Manual Material Handling Program

The purpose of this program is to reduce the risk of exposure to vector-borne diseases (VBD) by providing an overview of common vector-borne diseases, signs and symptoms, and prevention techniques.

Link to chapter in manual: Ch 24 – VectorBorne Disease Prevention Program