5.03 Safety

Origination date: 10/1/93
Revised: 11/15/06, 03/20/08, 9/21/2018, 10/26/2022
Applicability: Academic Professionals, Administrators, Classified Staff, Faculty, Service Professionals, Student and Temporary Employees

Policy

This policy sets forth the responsibilities of the University and its employees to promote safety for students, faculty, staff and visitors.

Employer Responsibilities

The University is responsible for providing an environment reasonably free from hazards that may cause illness, injury, or death to employees, students, and visitors. As such, the University will:

• Establish and maintain safety and loss prevention/risk management programs that seek to protect human and animal health, to ensure regulatory compliance and to preserve University interest and assets.

• Incorporate educational programs and training designed to prevent accidents and injuries, monitor procedures to identify hazardous situations, and take corrective actions to eliminate known deficiencies.

• Comply with applicable Federal, State, County, and local safety laws and regulations.

• Maintain an incident management plan that seeks to reduce risk to the health and safety of the University community in the event of an emergency.

Employee Responsibilities

All employees are responsible for maintaining a safe environment through their work and other actions. As such, employees are required to:

• Comply with applicable Federal, State, County, and local safety laws and regulations.
• Observe all University rules and regulations related to the efficient and safe performance of their work.
• Attend assigned training to promote safety and minimize risks.
• Report to supervisor and/or correct hazards, unsafe equipment, and improper work practices, asappropriate.
• Report to supervisor accidents/injuries that occur to themselves or others while on the job or on University property.
• Report to the University police department and the supervisor crimes and/or acts of violence or threats of violence.
• Operate University or personal vehicles while on University business in accordance with NAU transportation guidelines and applicable state and local laws.

Supervisory Responsibilities

All University employees who supervise others are responsible for maintaining a safe work environment by ensuring that:

• Employees are trained in basic safety measures, fire and fire hazard prevention, and emergency evacuation procedures. Supervisors should ensure that job-specific safety training is identified and assigned to employees. This training may include ergonomics, asbestos, proper handling of chemicals and biological agents, and other types of safety training.

• Safety training records are maintained for their employees.

• An Online Report of Injury is filed when an accident or work-related health problem or injury occurs in their area of responsibility.

• Notification is provided to the Office of Research Compliance (ORC) and/or the office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) about threats to safety or other hazards.

• Equipment and property within the area of responsibility are maintained in a safe condition.

• Employees are required to follow safe work practices at all times.

• If an employee violates safe work practices or procedures, the unsafe behavior is halted, the employee is informed of the infraction(s), and the correct method of work is reinforced. Discipline for failure to perform work in a safe manner will depend on the severity of the incident and will range from verbal reinforcement of safe working procedures, up to and including termination.

Procedures

Supervisors or employees who are unsure of safety training requirements for particular jobs should contact the Office of Research Compliance and/or the office of Environmental Health and Safety.

Supervisors and/or employees are responsible for contacting the Asbestos Program office at 928-523-6435 prior to performing any work involving existing building materials in order to ensure that no asbestos is disturbed without proper procedures or training.  Additional details of the NAU asbestos policy are available on the EHS website.