Safety Plan

Welcome to NC State University’s Safety Plan resource hub! These plans cover all university spaces where hazardous materials, processes, or equipment are present.

Below you’ll find comprehensive information for Principal Investigators, faculty, staff and students on the regulatory standards governing safe practices at NC State. This includes essential guidance, training resources, and timely updates to support the continued protection of our campus and compliance with institutional, state, and federal regulations.

 

Are you a New Principal Investigator?

For a new employee (Principal Investigator) to create a a Safety Plan, you must first register here to begin the process.

 

Are you a current Principal Investigator with an existing Safety Plan?

Effective 1 January 2024, all new requests for Safety Plans and renewals of existing Safety Plans will be completed in EHSA. Once a new Safety Plan has been established in EHSA, the “old” Plan will be archived. The platform that has been used since 2017 will be phased out during 2024 as plans expire. This will create a unified records portal for EHS Plans, licenses, permits, training records, and inspection data.

Door Signs were moved to EHSA in late 2022.

Machine Shops and Facilities Zone Shops will remain in the old Safety Plan system until further notice. DO NOT CREATE AN EHSA SAFETY PLAN FOR A MACHINE SHOP, ZONE SHOP, OR OTHER NON LAB SPACE.

 

What are the steps associated with completing a PI’s Safety Plan?

  1. Access the existing Safety Plan to use as a reference.
  2. Complete the NCSU Safety Plan Assessment in EHSA.
    1. Step by step instructions can be found here.
    2.  View the  recorded online training session video.
    3. Please contact EHS at env-health-safetyplan@ncsu.edu for additional assistance.  Most issues can be quickly resolved.
  3. Update your Chemical Inventory using the template.
  4. Create and/or upload Standard Operating Procedures (formally known as a PI’s Processes) for processes that contain hazardous chemicals and/or equipment.
    1. To create SOPs in the EHSA system, follow the guidelines here.
    2. To upload a current SOP, make sure it is a PDF and contains all the required information from the template listed here.

 

What’s New?

Inclusion of Safety Plans into EHSA results in a “one stop shop” for  research safety documentation:  Unwanted Material pickups, radioactive material permits and now Safety Plans and associated chemical inventories and SOPs will all be managed in EHSA.

Gone is the requirement for PIs to maintain more than a single Safety Plan.  Now, in EHSA, ALL research spaces and chemical inventories associated with a PI will be included under one Plan. PI’s should include all spaces that are associated with their research. This Includes, but is not limited to, animal housing facilities, greenhouses, offsite facilities (CMAST, Kannapolis, etc), and campus research labs

 

How will this be implemented?

Approximately 30 days prior to the expiration of their current Plan, the PI and the Secondary Safety Contact will each receive email notification from EHS to create a Safety Plan in EHSA.  This will be an “assignment” akin to the Lab Safety Inspection process.  The expiring Plan on the outgoing platform will be available for reference during this process.  Clearly, it will take approximately one year for this transition as all existing Plans expire through 2024.

 

Need Help? 

Please contact EHS Research Safety Section for any questions or assistance. In-person training and online and written reference materials are will be made are available to guide users in this process. Instructions to create a new Safety Plan in EHSA can be accessed here.

NEW: For convenience, a recorded online training session video is available.

 

Who needs a Safety Plan?

A safety plan is required for all teaching and research laboratory areas that use hazardous materials, hazardous processes/equipment and/or store these items.

 

What is a Hazardous Material?

For the purposes of safety plans, this term encompasses:

  • Physical hazards
  • Biological Materials
  • Chemicals – Office chemicals (White-out, glue and copying supplies) are exempt
  • Radioactive material or radiation producing devices
  • Hazardous processes: high voltage, high pressure, etc.

 

Intended Use of Safety Plans 

Emergency planning and response
Inspections
Hazard Awareness
Training and Education of the students and Staff
State and federal regulatory compliance

 

Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP)

All NC State University personnel who handle and may be exposed to hazardous chemicals in research laboratories need to review the Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP). This document, along with your safety plan, and internally developed site/task-specific procedures must cover all elements required by OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1450.

The Chemical Hygiene Plan is also a required training tool to help protect employees from specific health hazards in laboratories and to keep exposure below limits specified by OSHA.

 

Hazard Communication Program (non-laboratory chemical users)

All NC State University personnel who handle and may be exposed to chemicals in a non-laboratory setting (e.g. filed labs and facilities zones hops) are covered under NC State University’s Hazard Communication Program (HCP).  This program along with your safety plan covers all of the elements required by OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1010.1200).  Employees must take Hazard Communication Training for Non-Laboratories (EHPS-0S600). In addition to this online training employees shall receive training on the site specific chemical hazards.  (Section 8 NC State University’s HCP).

 

Document and Posting Requirements

Safety Plans provide background information required to establish safe working practices for hazardous material/processes use and handling. The PI is responsible for implementation and enforcement of safe work practices and the plan functions as both a training tool and reference source.