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Welcome

EHS Main Office 713-500-8100 (answered M-F, 8:00AM-5:00PM CST)
EHS Hotline 713-500-5832 (after hours, weekends, holiday for the on-call safety specialist)
For Emergencies, Dial UT Police Dispatch 713-792-2890 or 911

Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management’s (SHERM) mission is to work in conjunction with the UTHealth community to ensure that education, research, and health care service activities take place in conditions that are optimally safe and healthy for all students, faculty, staff, visitors, surrounding community and the general public.

Put simply, we exist to help people go home as healthy and safe as they arrived.

Our main office is located at the Operations Center Building (OCB 1.330) and we can be reached at 713-500-8100 or Fax 713-500-8111.

Training for Area Safety Liaison (ASL) for FY23 will return to in-person meetings marking the first time in two years that we will come together with members of the University community. ASLs play a very important and necessary role at the University to assist their peers and other individuals that they share space with in the matters of health and safety. For more information regarding the role of an ASL please go to: https://www.uth.edu/safety/occupational-safety-and-fire-prevention/asl.htm

Training Dates:

2 pm to 4 pm on Monday, Sept. 19, in SRB 104 (Auditorium)

1 pm to 3 pm on Thursday, Sept. 22, in MSB 1.006 (Lecture Room)

1 pm to 3 pm on Friday, Sept. 23, in SOD 4340 (Lecture Room)

For more information about the upcoming training sessions please see Campus Notes Issue #1361

The Legendary Safety Bob, no really, he's legendary....

The Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management (CSHEMA), an organization that serves health and safety professionals that work in higher education, has honored one of our own Robert Emery, DrPH, with Legendary status among safety professionals. Known around campus as "Safety Bob", perhaps "the Legendary Safety Bob" might be a better nickname. Either way, we would like to congratulate him for this recent honor. You can find more information about the Legendary Safety Bob from Inside UTHealth Houston recent article by Faith Harper.

Masking Signage_Protect Yourself

For the latest information on COVID-19 and returning to campus go to: https://inside.uth.edu/covid-19/faq. To check the local COVID-19 community levels from the CDC please go to https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html.

New Home for Employee Health Services

For 30 years Employee Health has served the employees of UTHealth Houston at University Center Tower 16th floor. On March 28th Employee Health opened at its new location in UTHealth Professional Building Suite 100. The new location provides an on-site pharmacy and convenient parking to employees that may need to use Employee Health Services.

What services are provided to UTHealth Houston employees?

Pre-placement employee screenings
Immunizations
TB testing
Laboratory testing at hire
Fitness-for-duty exams
Workplace exposure evaluation
Workplace injury evaluation and return-to-work exams
Workers' compensation and follow-up
Bloodborne pathogens exposure evaluation and follow-up care
COVID-19 testing and return-to-work recommendations

Contact information

UTHealth Professional Building
6410 Fannin, Ste 100
Houston, TX 77030

Hours of operation Monday-Friday 7 am to 4 pm
713.500.3267
https://www.uthealthservices.com/

CFH energy savings

Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) and Facilities, Planning & Engineering (FPE) have partnered to help educate research staff on the safe and energy efficient use of chemical fume hoods within our UTHealth laboratories. Here is why we care about the chemical fume hood sash height:

For safety:

When using a fume hood, keeping the sash height at the designated height (which is clearly indicated by a bright yellow sticker) helps protect users from potentially dangerous chemical fumes and splashes.

For energy conservation:

Fully closing the fume hood sash when not in use, or at the end of the day after use, helps to save a considerable amount of energy.

Did you know?

A single open fume hood consumes as much energy as 3.5 residential homes!
Closing the fume hood sash helps to reduce the amount of air exhausted out of the building, therefore reducing the amount of air that must be conditioned within the lab space by the building’s HVAC system.
Energy savings = cost savings for UTHealth!

We now have the capability to remotely monitor chemical fume hood performance, so don’t be surprised if you see a friendly EHS or FPE staff member coming by your laboratory to provide a reminder about keeping the fume hood sash closed when not in use.

Thank you for doing your part to work safely and energy efficiently!

Reminder about PPE use:

This is a reminder to all research personnel that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should not be worn outside of the laboratory setting. Recently there have been instances of people observing researchers wearing in public spaces, specifically using gloved hands to open doors or push elevator buttons. After all, do you really know where that glove has been?

Please do not wear gloves or other PPE outside of the laboratory, especially on elevators, in hallways, or in break rooms.

If it is necessary to transport items between labs on the same floor, one hand may be gloved, while the other hand remains without a glove to open the doors between labs. Gloves should never be worn in the elevator or break rooms. Ideally items should be transported using carts and secondary containment, especially when transporting items between floors.

Insider Threat Awareness at UTHealth

Reporting behaviors of concern is vital to protecting the University's intellectual property, it's safety and future.

Last year, the Office of Auditing and Advisory Services performed an internal audit at UTHealth on "insider threats". Insider threats are a real risk to any organization and individuals at UTHealth should remain vigilant of any potential insider threats. Based on the findings of the internal audit, the best way to do this is through awareness. UTPD and Environmental Health and Safety have committed to helping raise awareness of insider threats by providing the following information. Remember, if you see something, say something!

Snehal Rana training School of Dentistry students

Questions regarding training or University Online Learning platforms?
Contact Stephen David at 713-500-5858
or contact our main office at 713-500-8100

For quick access to University Online learning platforms:
Safety Assistant LMS Available to all University Student's, Resident's, Employee's, and UTPhysicians Employee's.
Learn2Succeed Available to all University Employee's and UTPhysicians Employee's.

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