1. Employee Responsibilities
  2. Supervisor Responsibilities
  3. Management Responsibilities
  4. Orientation and Training
  5. Safety Trainings
  6. Safety Committees
  7. Ergonomic Assessments
  8. Reporting Employee Injuries
  9. Personal Protective Equipment
  10. Industrial Hygiene
  11. Chemical Hygiene
  12. Infectious Disease
  13. Blood-borne Pathogens
  14. Wildfire Smoke
  15. Occupational Accident Resulting in Injury or Fatality
  16. Discipline
  17. Wellness Initiative


Employee Responsibilities

Foundational Knowledge
Employees must be familiar with safety protocols for their workplace. All employees will attend a new hire orientation that includes safety information. Employees who require job specific training due to use of power tools, aerial lifts, fall protection, electrical safety, respiratory protection, or other workplace hazards must attend safety orientation and successfully complete job-specific training before beginning working in that job. As conditions change, employees must participate in on-going training related to updated information. Specific job training must be completed by the employee’s supervisor or a designated individual.

Expectations

  1. Follow all safety and health rules described in Policy 209, some of these rules shall be delivered orientation training. It is your responsibility to read and understand this policy.
  2. Follow all safety rules published by OSHA and WISHA that are applicable to the tasks in your job description. It is your responsibility to know these rules.
  3. Participate in required emergency preparedness activities, such as lockdown, fire, and earthquake drills. Ensure you review and understand the emergency evacuation plans for your workspace, building and campus.
  4. Report unsafe conditions or actions to the immediate supervisor. If the unsafe condition or action remains, report it to District Safety or a safety committee representative.
  5. Report all injuries to the supervisor or security staff promptly. Ensure that an incident report form is properly filled out and submitted to the Campus Security Office and the District Occupational Safety and Health Manager.
  6. Report all near-miss incidents to the supervisor, security staff or safety committee representative promptly. Submit an incident report form to District Safety.

Recommendations
Employees are encouraged to take an active role in the identification and prevention of hazards to maintain a culture of safety.

  1. Use safe work practices and lead by example. Encourage co-workers to use safe work practices when completing hazardous tasks.
  2. Make suggestions to the supervisor, safety committee or District Safety about changes you believe would improve safety in your department, worksite or around campus.

Supervisor Responsibilities

Supervisors are responsible for their employees’ safety and must regularly check the workplace for unsafe conditions, watch for unsafe practices, and take prompt action to eliminate all hazards.

Supervisors must:

  1. Understand and be able to explain current safety and health rules applicable to their areas.
  2. Ensure all safety and health rules, standards, and procedures are followed at the worksite, classrooms and anywhere else on campus.
  3. Ensure that each employee receives workplace specific orientation training before starting work. Employees must also receive updated training when it becomes necessary and available.
  4. Ensure that an employee is fully trained and authorized to use any required equipment, including forklifts, ariel work platforms, power tools, cleaning products, pesticides, or other hazardous materials.
  5. Provide employees with any standard operating procedure (SOP) for tasks they are required to complete and proper instructions for doing it safely.
  6. Properly document all required training given to employees. Keep training logs to know when employees are due for refresher training or retraining.
  7. Monitor and enforce the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Ensure PPE is properly worn, in good condition, adequately stocked and easy to access.
  8. Correct unsafe practices, immediately.
  9. Correct or report unsafe conditions, immediately.
  10. Monitor employee safety performance, with special attention to fatigue and impairment.
  11. Investigate and report any occupational safety incident resulting in injury or illness to the District Occupational Safety & Health Manager for investigation and injury follow-up.

Management Responsibilities

College leadership at all levels, including but not limited to Deans, Directors, VPs and Presidents will support the College’s culture of safety by providing the planning, direction, and resources necessary to create a safe college environment.

  1. Managers should ensure funds are budgeted for safety equipment, training, and other needs.
  2. Managers will empower supervisors and hold them accountable for incident prevention, reporting, and compliance.
  3. Managers must report all injuries to the security department and occupational safety and health manager, and the injured employee or a designee must complete an incident reporting form and submit it to the security department.
  4. All incidents are investigated by the occupational safety and health manager or security director and reviewed with employees, supervisor, and safety committee.
  5. Managers will inform all vendors performing work at Seattle Colleges of the College Safety Procedures and should submit their company's safety policies to the Capital Projects Managers or department they are performing the work for. These should be reviewed by the health and safety team for compliance and adherence to all safety regulations.
  6. Managers will monitor vendors and contractors to ensure compliance with Seattle Colleges’ policies and industry safety standards.
  7. Contractors should not be alone performing work; they should always have a Seattle Colleges employee with them from the department the work is being completed for, especially in hazardous areas (roof, elevator shafts, confined spaces).
  8. Injuries to contractors must be reported to the occupational safety and health manager.
  9. Managers will include safety as a standing agenda item for all meetings to review any current safety issues relevant to the group.
  10. Managers will ensure that all meetings begin with a review of emergency response procedures when attendees are unfamiliar with the space.

Orientation and Training

Employee Safety
A workplace specific orientation will occur before employees begin their initial work assignment. This includes every new employee and any employee transferring into a new department. This training will include:

  1. The location of first aid and safety equipment in the work area (eyewash stations, drench shower locations, fire extinguishers, AEDs)
  2. Emergency response protocols following the colleges emergency action plan (fire evacuation, lockdown, earthquake)
  3. The location of the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and how to read and understand the terms and symbols therein (Hazard Communication training)
  4. Emergency shut off valves (gas, water, propane, HVAC, electrical)
  5. Demonstration of safe practices for assigned tasks – showing proficiency in performing them safely
  6. The use and care of any required personal protective equipment (PPE)
  7. Identification of all site-specific hazards in the work area
  8. Location of any spill kits required for the workplace, and spill response procedures.

A general safety orientation will occur within the first month of the initial assignment. This includes every new employee and any employee transferring into a new department. This training will include:

  1. A review of the safety policy and procedures in Policy 209
  2. How to report unsafe conditions or practices
  3. How and when to report on the job injuries
  4. Where to locate the incident reporting form and where to submit a completed form.
  5. Information about the campus safety committees
  6. A review of emergency procedures for specific worksite, building and campus.

The Environmental Health and Safety team will work with Human Resources to maintain records of safety training.


Student Safety

Students enrolled in classes or programs where they have exposure to hazards will receive training and instruction and personal protective equipment from the instructor teaching the course prior to exposure.

Additional safety orientations and information will occur as appropriate to orient students to new programs, equipment, laboratories, and workshops.



Safety Trainings

Training and Instruction are to be provided:

  1. When the program is first established
  2. To all new employees
  3. To all employees given new job assignments for which training has not previously been received
  4. Whenever new substances, processes, procedures, or equipment are introduced to the workplace and represent a new hazard.
  5. Whenever the employer is made aware of a new or previously unrecognized hazard
  6. For supervisors to familiarize themselves with the safety and health hazards to which employees under their immediate direction and control may be exposed
  7. All employees who may be exposed to workplace safety or health hazards must receive training on the hazard and respective protective measures.

Training in job specific safety programs will cover the following:

  1. Accident Prevention Program
  2. Emergency Preparedness Training
  3. Fire Prevention Plan
  4. Modified/ Return to Work Program
  5. Ladder Safety
  6. Hand Tool Safety
  7. Respiratory Protection
  8. Electrical Safety/ LOTO Program
  9. Fall Prevention Training
  10. Safe Work Methods
  11. PPE Personal Protection Equipment
  12. Ground Crew Safety
  13. Slips, Trips and Falls
  14. Lone Worker Training
  15. Proper Lifting Techniques

Safety Committees

Seattle Colleges Safety Committees are formed in accordance with the provisions of WAC 296-800-13020 and WAC 296-800-13025.

Each campus of Seattle Colleges has a safety committee that meets monthly to identify safety issues, develop solutions, review incident reports, maintain a safety bulletin board, and evaluate the effectiveness of the safety program, post minutes from each safety committee meeting on each campus website.

Each safety committee is governed by a charter. The Charter outlines procedures that align with Seattle Colleges’ policy. Charters are available for public review on each campus website.

The committee is composed of management-designated representatives and employees.

  1. Employees must outnumber management representatives on the committee.
  2. The security director is a required member. In case of occasional absence, a designee may represent the security director.
  3. A chairperson will be elected by the majority vote of the committee members each year. The chair is responsible for ensuring minutes are kept and posted publicly.
  4. A quorum of 6 members must be present to vote on decisions.
  5. Each member of the committee is responsible for bringing forward safety and health concerns.
  6. All individuals must be able to attend safety committee meetings.

Ergonomic Assessments

Employees may request an ergonomic assessment of their workstation by contacting Human Resources. The District Occupational Health and Safety Manager performs these evaluations and if the assessment indicates that accommodations or modifications are recommended, the college will take steps, including following the Reasonable Accommodation policy to respond to the recommendations.

For disability-related accommodation, employees should contact Human Resources.


Reporting Employee Injuries

When injuries occur on campus to an employee they must be reported to their supervisor immediately. An incident report form shall be completed and sent to the campus security office which forwards a copy of that report to the Occupational Safety and Health Manager. If the employee needs medical attention, they have the right to see a doctor of their choice for evaluation of that injury.

  1. The Occupational Safety and Health Manager will begin an investigation into the root cause of the incident and note any hazards associated with the incident if present.
  2. All employees who have had a work-related injury may be contacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Manager for follow-up.
  3. Employees that are unable to return to full duty, but under light duty cannot return to work until the department from which they work says they can accommodate them with light duty, and a light duty job is created. Once a light duty job is created it must be approved by the attending physician and the employee. There may be times when the injury or restrictions' placed by the attending physician that Seattle Colleges may not be able to accommodate. These light-duty assignments are temporary, until the employee is released to full duty.
  4. Employees are not required to return to work in a light duty job; they can remain at home to heal if that is their choice.
  5. Employees can only return to work under a full duty release, or a temporary light duty modified work agreement.
  6. A review of the incident report will occur at the next campus safety committee meeting. If hazards were associated with the cause of the incident they will be reviewed with the direct supervisor or manager and corrective actions will be completed prior to an employee resuming that specific job duty.

Personal Protective Equipment

  1. All employees shall be provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) provided by Seattle Colleges. All safety-related equipment must be reviewed prior to purchase to ensure proper protection from work environmental hazard.
  2. Job hazard assessments (JHA’s) must be completed for all positions to determine the proper personal protective equipment required to be worn while performing specific job tasks.
  3. Employees shall be provided with training in the proper application and removal (donning and doffing), fitting cleaning, inspection and knowledge of when to replace provided equipment.
  4. Personal Protective Equipment may consist of safety glasses/goggles, face shields, side shields (ANSI rated Z87.1), safety boots (ASTM rated) specifically to the hazard, safety gloves suitable for the hazard, hearing protection (OSHA 1910.95), safety vests, and equipment specific for the task (leathers-welding, chaps- chainsaw use, safety goggles-splash potential). All personal protective equipment must fit the user well for comfort and breathability and in wearing them does not create an additional hazard.
  5. Safety specific personal protective equipment may require fit testing and medical evaluations prior to use. Seattle Colleges must create a medical surveillance program when necessary for the use of specialized equipment.

Incident Investigations

All near misses and incidents where someone else could have been injured from the same task, condition, behavior, or design shall be reviewed and investigated following the incident.

  1. These are performed after being informed of the incident and corrective actions as needed identified and put into place to abate any recognized hazard to prevent a recurrence.
  2. These are to be documented and retained.
  3. Procedures for investigating workplace incidents or hazardous substance exposures including:
    1. Interviewing injured worker(s) or witnesses
    2. Examining workplace for factors associated with the incident/exposure.
    3. Reviewing video tapes if caught on cameras.
    4. Determining the cause(s) of incident/exposure
    5. Taking corrective action to prevent the incident/exposure from recurring
    6. Reviewing the training of employees and safety observations performed for affected staff.
    7. Recording the findings and actions taken.

Industrial Hygiene

Industrial Hygiene is the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of environmental factors or stresses in the workplace. These hazards can be hazards from air contaminants, chemicals, biological sources, physical or ergonomic.

  1. Identify any hazard in the workplace that is present or may be present in the environment that could cause injury or stress to the employee.
  2. Investigate to determine the scope of the hazard and determine if the hazard presents any health risks to employees.
  3. Evaluate the findings of the investigation, considering cost/benefit analysis to determine the best course of action.
  4. Report on the findings of the investigation and work to create the best solution to the hazards for the well-being of the employees and students that are or may be affected.
  5. Hazards should be mitigated utilizing the hierarchy of controls in the following order:
    1. Complete elimination or substitution of the hazardous item or process.
    2. Utilization of engineering controls (barrier) to the hazard.
    3. Instituting a training program, standard operating procedure, updating policy, or installing signage that increases awareness of the hazardous condition.
    4. Utilizing and enforcing the usage of personal protective equipment to reduce exposure to the hazard.


Chemical Hygiene

Seattle Colleges workspaces that work with chemicals must have a written program developed by the employer as per OSHA 1910.1450 and Chapter 296-828 WAC. The Chemical Hygiene Program sets procedures, equipment, personal protective equipment, and safe work practices that will reduce the risk of health hazards from hazardous materials. The program will set a baseline for minimal standards for handling hazardous materials in the workplace.

  1. Chemical Hygiene Officer (CHO) will be the Associate Director of Environmental Safety and Health at District. The CHO will have the authority to approve the Chemical Hygiene Plan.
  2. The Chemical Hygiene Officer will provide technical guidance in the development and implementation of the program on all campuses that meet the requirements as a laboratory.
  3. Chemical Hygiene training will be given to all employees that work in a laboratory setting when they are assigned and biennially afterwards.
  4. The Chemical Hygiene Plan will be reviewed annually and updated, when necessary, by the Chemical Hygiene Officer.


Infectious Disease

  1. If an employee is ill, they should be asked to take sick leave and remain at home until the illness passes. It is important that we do not continue to transmit communicable diseases through our workforce and students.
  2. The Infectious Disease Program will provide guidance for preventing infectious diseases. This program will be reviewed and updated annually by District Safety and Health.
  3. Any significant outbreaks of communicable diseases in a workspace or classroom will be reported to District and then reported to the Washington State Department of Health.

Blood-borne Pathogens

All employees that have a reasonable chance in the workplace of being exposed to blood or any bodily fluid must take the following precautions to prevent exposure to pathogens:

  1. Standard precautions
    1. Maintain good hygiene (i.e., wash your hands frequently)
    2. Protect all open wounds with a clean dry covering.
    3. Clean and disinfect all soiled surfaces as soon as possible.
    4. Wear PPE when cleaning bodily fluids and ensure that PPE is in good condition. Always remove and dispose of PPE after use.
    5. Do not eat or store food in locations with substantial risk of blood or bodily fluid exposure.
    6. Wash your hands immediately after cleaning blood or bodily fluids and before eating, drinking, or touching your face.
  2. Universal precautions
    1. Always treat blood or bodily fluids with extreme caution
    2. Always treat blood as if it is infectious.
  3. Employees with a reasonable risk must take Bloodborne Pathogens training annually.
  4. Employees, unless qualified by training and within the scope of their job description, are NOT required to perform first aid as a part of their duties.
  5. Employees should report discarded sharps (e.g., needles) to the facilities department or public safety office/security for removal.
  6. Untrained employees should report the presence of blood or body fluids to facilities/plant operations for removal and disinfection.

Wildfire Smoke

On January 15th, 2024, Washington State passed rules protecting the health of employees potentially exposed to microscopic particles in wildfire smoke. In these rules each campus, with the assistance of District Health and Safety, must:

  1. Develop and publish a Wildfire Smoke Response Plan.
  2. Train each employee annually on the dangers of wildfire smoke.
  3. Monitor air quality during workdays where outside work is necessary.
  4. Provide respiratory protection for each employee required to work outside during wildfire smoke pollution events.
  5. Notify employees when wildfire smoke air pollution thresholds are above action thresholds.
  6. Train supervisors in identifying symptoms of wildfire smoke exposure and response to employees who experience these symptoms.

This program shall be reviewed annually and updated as necessary.


Occupational Accident Resulting in Injury or Fatality

DO NOT DISTURB THE SCENE EXCEPT TO AID IN RESCUE OR MAKE THE SCENE SAFE.

  1. Any incident that results in a fatality or an employee’s admission to a hospital must be reported to Labor and Industries within eight (8) hours.
  2. Call the Occupational Safety and Health Manager immediately so that they can contact L&I, follow up with the employee, and supervision and begin the investigation.
    1. The toll-free notification number is 1-800-321-6742.
    2. The injured employee’s supervisor must speak with an L&I representative. Email, fax or answering machine notifications are not acceptable.
    3. The report must include:
      1. Employer Name
      2. Location and time of incident
      3. Number of employees involved.
      4. Extent of injury or illness, if known.
      5. A brief description of what occurred.
      6. Name and Phone number of contact person.

Investigation

  1. Whenever an incident results in a death or serious injury, a preliminary investigation will be conducted by a team consisting of:
    1. The District Occupational Safety & Health Manager
    2. The immediate supervisor of the injured person
    3. A person designated by management
    4. An employee representative of the safety committee
    5. As needed, any other person whose expertise would help the investigation
  2. The investigation team will take written statements from any witnesses, photograph the scene, including any equipment involved, and check video if available.
  3. The team will document, as soon as possible, the condition of the equipment involved and anything in the work area that is considered relevant.
    1. The team will write an “incident investigation report” of its findings.
    2. The report will be reviewed by the senior management and the safety committee and shall include:
      1. Sequence of events leading to the incident
      2. Conclusions about the incident
      3. Recommendations to prevent future similar incidents
  4. Seattle Colleges recognizes the following definitions for use in reporting:
    1. Major (Serious) Injury: Injury that results in death, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of eye(s).
    2. Minor Injury: Injury that required emergency medical treatment. Examples include bone break or fracture, burn or laceration, or an injury that required a visit to an employee’s personal physician or outpatient clinic.

Discipline

Employees are expected to use good judgment when doing their work and to follow established safety rules. The supervisor will bring unacceptable behavior to the employee’s attention in a way that motivates the employee to correct the behavior. The District will adhere to the relevant collective bargaining agreements in any disciplinary action for failure to follow safety rules.


Wellness Initiative

Seattle Colleges strives to be a healthy and rewarding place to work and study. Toward this end, employees are encouraged to use the available fitness facilities for a nominal fee. The fee amount is set by each individual campus.

Emotional health is supported by state employees through the state’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Managers are encouraged to recommend any employee to EAP whenever they believe it would be helpful.



Companion Document : Pol
Adoption Date : 2018/10/18
Revision Date : 2026/02/12