Talking Stick - September/October 2016 - 29

the risk management office and the
student health center in order to make
plans flow smoothly. Third, ensure that
staff know how to use their personal
protective equipment (PPE) during
incidents. And fourth, make plans for a
post-incident review process.
How do you make all these steps
work together? The biohazard plan
put together by the team at Purdue
University in West Lafayette, Indiana,
is a good example of a successful
strategy. Fred Douglas, facilities
manager and chair of the University
Residences Safety Committee (which
champions best safety practices for the
entire Purdue residence hall system),
explains how his team responds when
a biohazard appears in one of their
residence halls.

First, before an incident pops
up, his staff is fully briefed on what
constitutes a biohazard, the protocol
for treating the incident, and the
expectations of their role and the
students' role. At Purdue, students are
expected to clean up after themselves
within their own room, but if an
incident occurs outside of their room,
they know to contact an RA who
then passes the message along to the
appropriate maintenance or custodial
staff. When an employee arrives to
clean and decontaminate, they are
required to follow a three-step process
using the proper personal protection
equipment so that they can remove
the material safely and disinfect the
surface. To do this, the material is
put into a biohazard bag and securely

Facilities staff are keeping
the halls spic and span.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY

HAVING A
GOOD PLAN IN
PLACE IS VITAL
FOR EVERY
INSTITUTION,
AND IT IS EASILY
ATTAINABLE
AS LONG AS
THERE IS A
WELL-THOUGHT
OUT BLUEPRINT
OF PROCEDURES
SERVING AS
THE BACKBONE
OF YOUR
DEPARTMENT'S
OPERATIONS.

sealed, and the area where it was is
disinfected with an approved product.
The bag is then marked with the date,
the substance, and the location of
where it was. From there, it goes to
the Radiological and Environmental
Management (REM) Department,
which takes care of the disposal of
hazardous waste for the entire campus.
For every incident that occurs on
Purdue's campus, a report - the First
Report of Injury - must be written up.
This report details the occurrence and
provides a summary of information
such as the length of time the area was
closed down or if medical assistance
was needed. Additionally, hall
managers are asked to work through
a list of questions that help them
determine the cause of the incident
and to identify resolutions.
At Sam Houston State University
in Huntsville, Texas, as Kathryne
Pelton, assistant director for
residence life facilities maintenanceadministration, explains, staff are
prepared to handle any incidents that
may arise. "We do provide just-in-time
training to our staff at the start of any
seasonal event, including flu and cold
season," she says. Additionally, as
events come up, they come together
as a staff and process the event after
the fact. "We will use incident reports
as case studies and complete a quick
SWOT [strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats] analysis
about the situation."
At Purdue, both full-time and
part-time staff are required to attend
trainings during their orientation that
outline what blood borne pathogens
(BBPs) are, what the right-to-know law
is, what lockout-tagout means, and
what personal protective equipment
and building emergency plans (BEP)
are in use within their facilities.
Right-to-know is an environmental
law stating that an individual has the
right to know about the chemicals that
they may be exposed to on a daily basis

SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2016

29
Talking Stick - September/October 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - September/October 2016
