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University policy regarding occupational safety and health

  1. Kent state university is committed to achieving excellence in providing a safe and healthy working environment, and to supporting environmentally sound practices in the conduct of university activities. The implementation of this policy will ensure systematic integration of safety and environmental considerations into all university activities. This policy on safety management applies to all members of the university community. This policy also applies to contractors whose work is directed on a day-to-day basis by university employees.
  2. To meet this standard of excellence, the university will implement management initiatives and best practices to include safety and environmental considerations in university activities.
    1. Kent state will comply with applicable safety and environmental protection laws, regulations and requirements. University activities are to be conducted in a manner that ensures the protection of students, faculty, staff, visitors, the public, property and the environment.
    2. The university will maintain a safety and health program to prevent injuries and illnesses, environmental incidents, property losses and damages. The program will incorporate training, hazard assessments, inspections, corrective actions, record keeping, committee establishment and communication, and enforcement of work practices and rules. Achieving this goal is the responsibility of every member of the university community. Supervisors have particular responsibility for the activities of those employees who report to them.
  3. This policy must be clearly communicated to members of the university community and university contractors. University expectations and commitments are expressed through this and other policies, procedures, guidelines, and notices, and in contract specifications. The format for communicating specific expectations may vary from activity to activity, based on the nature and severity of the hazards of the operations being performed. Safety management relies on establishing objectives and on tracking performance with respect to achieving and maintaining compliance with health, safety, and environmental requirements. The following safety principles are intended to provide directions to ensure safe activities from the inception of planning an activity through the actual performance.
    The department of environmental health and safety will publish and maintain information, guidelines, and implementing instructions online, linked through https://www.kent.edu/compliance/environmental-health-and-safety, for each set of the specific safety principles outlined in this policy.
    1. Safety management is based on individual responsibility for safety and environmental stewardship. Managers at all levels must demonstrate commitment to the implementation and sustained execution of all elements of safety. Faculty, staff, students, and visitors support safety by understanding and using these principles in their activities at the university. Each individual is directly responsible for ensuring his or her own safety and for promoting a safe, healthy, and environmentally sound workplace and community.
    2. University employees who direct the activities of other individuals are responsible for protecting faculty, staff, students, visitors, the public, and the environment, and for adhering to this policy. Accountability should be addressed in job descriptions, performance evaluations, and contracts.
    3. The university will establish clear and unambiguous lines of authority and responsibility for ensuring safety and environmental protection at all organizational levels within the university, and with university contractors.
    4. Managers will ensure that employees possess the experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform their safety and environmental responsibilities.
    5. The university will allocate resources to address safety and environmental protection in all university activities. Protecting faculty, staff, students, visitors, the public, and the environment is a priority whenever activities are planned and performed.
    6. Before a member of the university community conducts an activity that has potential adverse implications for safety or the environment, a responsible party must evaluate the associated hazards and environmental impacts and identify the appropriate protective safety and environmental requirements to assure that faculty, staff, students, visitors, the public, and the environment are protected from adverse effects. The principal responsibility for such an evaluation resides with employees, supervisors and managers. The Kent state university environmental health and safety ("EHS") office is available for consultation and will assist with the identification of appropriate requirements, controls, and standards, and with their implementation.
    7. The university will implement a program of external communications, public participation, and stakeholder involvement to obtain safety-related input from interested parties, including regulatory agencies, funding organizations, local community groups, students, alumni, and emergency response agencies. The program will institute a safety communications network to address compliance and emergency situations.
    8. The university will adopt engineering and administrative controls for activities being performed to prevent and mitigate hazards and environmental impacts. The strategy employed will be to prevent damage by designing the activities and controls to reduce or eliminate accidents, injuries, exposure, and unplanned releases of harmful substances to the environment.
Policy Effective Date:
Jul 01, 2018
Policy Prior Effective Dates: 
11/4/1977, 8/24/1979, 6/1/2007, 3/1/2015
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