Environmental Health and Safety

Laboratory Safety Self-Evaluation Program

a lab inspector

Overview

EHS is responsible for the safety oversight of the over 1,100 labs at The University of Texas at Austin. Principal Investigators are responsible for safety in their laboratory. The Laboratory Self-Evaluation was designed to assist PIs in identifying safety issues in their laboratory. Each PI is required to submit a laboratory safety self-evaluation (PDF) every semester (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Recent Improvements

EHS created a web PDF self-evaluation form for the spring 2010 semester. The new electronic form utilizes features to make it easier for Principal Investigators to complete their lab evaluation. Users can now bypass sections that are not applicable to their lab. The form can be saved at any time during the completion process and then submitted electronically to EHS, instead of mailing or faxing.

Program Compliance

Participation continues to improve University-wide. There has been nearly a five-fold increase in participation since spring 2009.

Labs Completing Self-Evaluations

graph of the following data

Spring 2009: 128, Summer 2009: 334, Fall 2009: 271, Spring 2010: 636

Participation by College/School for spring 2010

EHS encourages Colleges/Schools and PIs to improve their participation and achieve a 100% completion rate in the future.

College of Natural Sciences 51%
School of Engineering 53%
College of Pharmacy 62%
School of Geosciences 44%
College of Liberal Arts 46%