February 5, 2014 Minutes
JOINT HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
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DUNLAP INSTITUTE FOR ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
HELD ON FEBRUARY 5, 2014, 11:00A.M. – 12:00P.M., CONFERENCE ROOM AB101-H
Minutes respectfully submitted by Alice Chow, Recording Secretary
ATTENDANCE: A. Choi, A. Chow, D.S. Moon, G. Patel, S. Wright, M. Williams, C. Weidner, and H. Zhao
ABSENT: R. Gagne with regrets
1. Approval of Agenda: Approved.
2. Welcome and Introduction of Ronald Gagne, new member of DAA/Dunlap HSC and Christine Weidner, Health & Safety Officer, FAS (H. Zhao): H. Zhao welcomed R. Gagne as the new GASA representative at HSC. H. Zhao also welcomed C. Weidner, FAS Health & Safety Officer to attend the HSC meeting. C. Weidner is reported to the FAS CAO as well as the University Office of Environmental Health and Safety. C. Weidner added that she is the person to talk to if we have any health and safety issues.
3. Approval of Minutes of Meeting July 22, 2013: Approved. As a follow up of item 3, H. Zhao and A. Choi would start preparing the binder after the meeting. For item 4, C. Weidner said that the legislation would not come out until July 2014 and the university would then implement. She further added that HR would involve by that time. There would be a quiz at the end of the online orientation and the result would be recorded. For item 9, S. Wright reported that an emergency stop has been installed after the arcs incident. The stop would kill all the electrical equipment but not the lights. She added that testing and drill were required in the near future. H. Zhao reported that UPSes has been bought to prevent power surge and power glitches on both DAA and Dunlap servers. .
4. Report from Joint Health and Safety Committee (South) (M. Williams): C. Weidner reported that the JHSC reviewed the employee/student incident / accident data report at its recent meeting. She circulated the report at the HSC. She made a special note with regards to incident 5 about hutch to secure the desk. She remarked that double-sided tape was not secure and recommended to consult with the vendor ways to improve the safety. H. Zhao would give members at the Astronomy a warning that the hutches were not attached to the desks.
5. Inspection Report, Plan and Assignment (A. Choi, M. Williams, G. Patel): C. Weidner said labs should be inspected once a year from the JHSC perspective. She suggested that we should conduct the inspection ourselves and she could provide assistance for the inspection of labs. M. William proposed that we could divide the building into 6 parts and inspect each part twice a year. All agreed. C. Weidner reminded that the EHS has templates on its website for inspection purposes and FAS has edited the checklist for inspection. C. Weidner has also redesigned the inspection report to make it more user-friendly. C. Weidner would provide the templates to the HSC.
6. Training and Certification (H. Zhao): C. Weidner informed the HSC that she was coordinating the CPR training and the next training would be held in the end of May. She reminded that first aider should be certified every 3 years. She would send the information to the HSC and she could hold five spots for Astronomy. H. Zhao will find out who will attend the training and communite to C. Weidner. M. William reported that he has completed all health and safety classes and was attending part 2 at the moment. S. Wright reported that there was a training protocol of the mini machine shop. K. Vanderlinde and S. Wright were keeping track of who have completed the training and could have access to the machine shop. C. Weidner noted the HSC that currently there was no guideline in the university regarding machine shop safety but the EHS was publishing a safety guideline for machine shop. She was also preparing an orientation package for machine shop as well. S. Wright requested L. Lanca to update the key list on wiki to show that who have the keys to access the mini machine shop. She added that D-S Moon, K. Vanderline and S. Wright need to access that information quickly to check who were certified and have keys anytime.
7. Other Business: H. Zhao reported that he noticed loud noise came from the bottom of the staircase in the basement. He has called the building manager and colleagues from Facility and Services came turn it off in the past. However, he recently noted that they turned it on again and asked if anyone was being bothered. He added that he has not received any complain so far. S. Wright suggested that H. Zhao should check with K. Vanderlinde because Vanderline’s lab was next to it. .
8. Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held in July or August 2014.
9. Meeting adjourned at 11:55 a.m.