The Chemical Hygiene/Radiation Safety Office (CH/RSO) is responsible for establishing health and safety policies and protocols that are adopted by the college in order to assure that all workspaces and teaching areas comply with regulatory chemical use guidelines. The CH/RSO develops protocols that allow those in the campus community who use characteristically hazardous materials to do so without posing a threat to personnel, the facilities, nor the environment at large. Office duties include: spreading awareness of and enforcing the Chemical Hygiene Plan(s), interpreting state and federal regulations, hazardous waste abatement, radioactive materials safety management, assisting in the preparation of standard operating procedures (SOPs), designation of safety equipment necessities, and providing safety training.
The CH/RSO services all areas of the Carleton College community in the abatement of characteristically hazardous wastes. They work to identify waste streams and establish collection protocols. The CH/RSO also functions as the primary handler of waste materials as it coordinates their movement to temporary on-campus storage facilities, inventories collected wastes, and packages them for permanent disposal by the college’s contracted disposal firms. As per Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) mandates, the CH/RSO oversees all “cradle-to-grave” handling of characteristically hazardous materials. Such materials may be chemical, biological, or radioactive in nature.
In accordance with Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) standards, the CH/RSO assists Carleton’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Compliance Manager in designating the need for and implementing worker safety training.
The EHS office provides training for faculty, staff, and student workers who handle characteristically hazardous materials or who work in potentially hazardous environments. Such training includes federal “right-to-know” statute education, emergency response techniques, and the complete integration of Safety Data Sheets (SDS) in the workplace.
Questions regarding CH/RSO oversight issues can be directed to Kevin Dolge. Academic departments using hazardous chemicals must have a chemical hygiene plan and provide appropriate training, respective to department-specific plans, for all employees and students who work with those materials. Non-academic departments should work with Kevin Dolge to ensure their chemical use plans are applicable and complete.