Inaugural NAU Campus Safety Summit—February 18, 2021
A day of thought leadership and exploration for an effective safety culture at NAU
More than 200 members of the NAU community attended the virtual event hosted by the Campus Safety Culture Steering Committee to hear from campus leaders on the many ways stronger safety culture can mitigate risks for staff, faculty and students. The webinar closed with a fascinating presentation, “Fall to Sleep” by Dr. Heather Nash, Director of NAU’s Office of Employee Wellness and Assistance (EAW).
Work sessions synopses
The morning webinar was followed by four small project-specific work sessions. Participants were invited to contribute based on their subject matter expertise and met to discuss key safety topics. Summaries for each session are provided below. As work continues on these topics, updates will be posted here:
Work Session 1 – Safe Tracking of Purchases & Chemical E-Inventories Accordion Closed
Becky McGaugh, Associate Vice President, CaPCOT, and David Faguy, Associate Vice President, VPR, brought together researchers, faculty and support professionals to discuss options for a chemical purchasing tracking and inventory system at NAU that would meet compliance needs and the needs of researchers while eliminating several current areas of administrative burden. During the session participants shared their current roles in those processes and what has been working or not working in their current procurement systems. New ideas, such as barcoding, were discussed and the group reviewed the advantages and challenges of those approaches.
The session ended with a better understanding of the challenges associated with our current systems. Such challenges included the difficulty of tracking fluctuating quantities of chemicals used on a regular basis, the challenge of tracking very small chemicals such as those included in DNA kits and the fact that the person ordering chemicals is often not the person using the chemical. All participants agreed that any new system will need to be easy and clear so that it can be used by all stakeholders. Becky and David plan to continue the discussion with a working group that will include staff from all user groups.
Work Session 2 – Job Safety Resources, Roles & Responsibilities Accordion Closed
This work session was lead by Scott Halle, EHS, Angela Helmer, CPRM, and Aaron Kaminski, CPRM. The presentation provoked a lively and broad discussion of how to communicate messages about safety across a diverse community of stakeholders at NAU.
Participants discussed these safety communication priorities:
- The need to communicate across a decentralized organization.
- The need to add safety culture content into presentations at student orientations, graduate school orientations, faculty orientations, etc.
- The need to connect the issue of aging infrastructure/deferred maintenance with safety risk as safety incidents can be linked to failing infrastructure.
- When employees are told that they are responsible for safety they could take that role too far and stop other employees or students from doing activities that they perceive as unsafe, when actually the activity is just being done differently than they are used to or comfortable with.
- How do we take into account employees who feel unsafe because of threats or harassment? What is the connection between mental and emotional well-being and occupational safety and safety culture?
Work Session 3 – Stakeholder Communication for Safety Program Participation Accordion Closed
This session was organized by Robert Church, Emergency Management, Vicki Fimea, Equity and Access, and Jeff Young, Fire Life Safety. The group presented the technology resources available for safety message communications. Using the Student Athlete High Performance Center as an example, the group discussed effective ways to promote safety ownership and accountability on campus at the building level. Session participants brought up challenges such as communicating emergency safety messages in transitory spaces with unknown occupants. The group differentiated between educational ongoing messaging, which should align with NAU branding and marketing, from emergency messaging which requires a break from branding to grab attention.
They discussed the role of building managers and the opportunity to bring information about the new building evacuation guides to the managers, but also the challenge of different building managers having different approaches to their role. The group also discussed equity and access concerns and the need for evacuation plans to consider FERPA regulations. Someone can opt into sharing information for needing an accommodation, but it cannot be forced on them or done without their consent.
Work Session 4 – Promoting Stewardship through Sustainable Lab Practices Accordion Closed
Andrew Iacona, Interim Sustainability Manager, Sydney Wilson, Green Labs Coordinator, and Jon Heitzinger, Associate Director for Utilities, presented information on sustainability initiatives, energy usage in lab spaces, and the key components of the Green Labs Certification program.
During this session, participants were given a demonstration of the Green Labs Checklist and provided feedback and suggestions for how to best promote the Green Labs program. Several participants agreed at the end of the session to sign up for the certification process.
Group feedback included that the checklist was easy to use and was flexible enough to adapt to different types of labs, and that existing platforms such as BioRAFT/SciShield can be used to publicize the Green Labs Certification Program.