Safety

Our department is committed to providing its employees a safe and healthy workplace. To ensure that this objective is accomplished, we will maintain a department specific Health and Safety program that contains elements which meets the requirements of the University of British Columbia and Workers` Compensation Board of British Columbia. These elements include:

• Safety Policy
• Local Safety Committee
• Orientation, Training and Supervision of Workers
• Hazard Assessments and Work Site Inspections
• Accident Investigations
• Safe Work Procedures
• First Aid and Emergency Services
• Personal Security and Public Safety
• Hazardous Materials
• Health Promotion and Return to Work
• Records and Statistics
• Program Review
• Environmental Protection

If there are any questions regarding the health and safety in the Department of Zoology, please contact your local safety committee representative or the Science JOHSC committee representative.

See the Biological Sciences emergency response plan HERE

See the Beaty Biodiversity emergency response plan HERE

Please visit the Safety & Risk Services (SRS) directory.
If you’re looking for someone in particular or if you have health/safety questions on a specific subject:

• Hazardous waste questions contact people in the Environmental Services category.
• Biological, Chemical, or Radiation questions, including safety courses, contact people in the Occupational and Research Safety category.
• If you have question regarding online privacy and information security, contact people in the Privacy & Information Security Management (PrISM).

Please contact any member of the Safety Committee if you have any safety questions or concerns:

Due diligence means taking all reasonable care to protect the well being of all employees. To meet the standard of due diligence, our Department takes all reasonable precautions in the circumstances to carry out departmental work and safety and health responsibilities. This is the standard of care required to comply with the safety and health regulations and orders made under the BC Workers Compensation Act and enforced by the WorkSafe BC. The courts will recognize a formal defense of due diligence in prosecutions. In practice, the WorkSafe BC will also recognize a defense of due diligence and may relieve employers of monetary penalties for violations of the regulations-if employers can establish that they were duly diligent.

For more information, read "Safety Supervision" by Paul Nakagawa from UBC Safety & Risk Services.

No member of the faculty, staff or student should be doing any activity if they believe that the activity would create an undue hazard to themselves or to others. Current regulations make it clear that all employees must be trained and have relevant hazard information on the materials they are working or exposed to.

When a faculty, staff or student member has reasonable cause to believe that the activity they are about to do would create undue hazard to the health or safety of any person, including themselves, they have the right and responsibility to:

Report the circumstances of the unsafe condition to his/her supervisor (or principle investigator). The supervisor will investigate the matter and ensure that any unsafe condition is remedied without delay or if in his/her opinion the report is not valid he/she shall inform the person who made the report.