December Minutes

Environmental Health and Safety Committee

12/9/03 Meeting Notes

Members Present:

Sandy Bowman, Rob Bates

Sheila Poffinbarger, Gary Hanebrink

Jeff Boshart, Dan Carpenter

Karen Nantz, Mark Shaklee

Becky Markwell, Heidi Hawkins

Chuck Phillips, Mike Carter Jr.

Keith Kohanzo, Jeff Cross

Joe Barron

Members Absent:

Lynette Drake, Kathy Cartwright

Chief Due, Sandra Baumgartner

Peggy Hickox, Doug Brandt

Dan Sheeran, Dr. Wall

Rodger Jehlicka, Ken Baker

Guests Present:

Cathy Thomas (Assistant to Director, Grants & Research)

Bob Chesnut (Acting Director of Grants & Research, beginning January 1)

Prior minutes not available for approval.

Meeting Agenda: How do we manage animal, human, and/or biochemical laboratories?

• Currently, EIU has a federal wide review of federally funded animal grants.
• Bob Chesnut will be starting in January as the Acting Director of Grants and Research. The Grants and Research department's main goal is to bring in funding to the University. Grant funding normally requires that policies and reviews are in place for proper monitoring.
• His goal regarding the topic of managing animal, human, and/or biochemical laboratories is to come up with an Institutional Review and polices of animal/human subjects. His office will be working to come up with policies and review procedures for EIU from the ground up.
• Grants & Research will also be establishing 2 committees. Currently, there are no committees regarding this issue on the EIU campus. The following will be developed:
• Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Institutional Animals Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
• Bob is planning to provide documents for us to review and to make suggestions/ comments about during the upcoming months. In March, he will have a draft, in April/May he will be finalizing the draft, and the revisions will last through the end of his contract in June. (These polices are mentioned in the NCA). An Internal Governing Policy will also need to be in place when the policies and reviews are finalized.
• Bob will also provide a prioritized list of needs to be considered for deferred maintenance and capital requests, in order to continue meeting safety and environmental needs for obtaining grants.
• EIU needs to establish documentation of training as well as proper procedures for lab work and conduct. This should most likely be handled at the departmental level daily and then eventually turned in as a report.
• Finally, Bob's goal is to “keep simple research grants simple.” The paperwork should be kept to a minimum and should be easy for the faculty to implement.

“Round Robin” Discussion:

• Dining safety checks have been performed and work orders were written up accordingly. Carman Dining still needs to have a safety check performed.
• The Governor has established new mandatory ethics training. Joe Barron is working on this for all EIU employees.
• The final phase in the University Court sprinkler system is underway. The design is being sent out for bids and the hope is that it will be finished by the end of the summer. When finished, work will begin on high rises.
• Locking doors in stairwells has become a concern for fire hazards. We need to look into this.
• The Charleston Fire Department currently only has a 6 floor maximum ladder height. We need to look into possibly obtaining a lift that is capable of reaching all EIU's high-rises.