Five Steps to an Effective Hospital Safety Committee

Bryan Connors | January 10, 2019

Whether chairing your hospital’s safety committee or participating as a member, many of us struggle to energize our committees and to keep momentum. The value your safety committee holds for your hospital depends upon many factors, but there are some common themes to effective safety committees. An active and effective safety committee is an integral...

Managing Asbestos Contaminated Soil During Construction in Massachusetts: Tips for Hiring the Right Consultant

Will Wade | December 10, 2018

Recent Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) regulatory changes have significant impacts on construction sites where asbestos contaminated soil is present. Many sites, particularly those with a history of industrial, commercial or dumping activities, have soil that contains asbestos, often at “trace” (less than 1 percent) amounts. If asbestos in soil has been identified at...

Emerging Biotechs: 6 Tips for Designing a Safe Laboratory

Steven Lee | November 15, 2018

The goal of any early stage biotech company is continual growth and success. However, as positive as company growth is, unless you initially leased an enormous laboratory, you may find that success means growing out of your existing space and designing a new one. In the biotechnology entrepreneurship world, growing and moving on is far...

Safely Moving Out of Your Lab Space

Steven Lee | October 30, 2018

Moving a biotech laboratory to a new space isn’t as simple as renting a U-Haul and packing up boxes. You’ll have specific responsibilities and obligations that need to be followed to ensure you leave behind a clean, safe space for the next tenant. EHS Essentials for Biotech Start-Ups First thing’s first: determine your decommissioning...

The Dangers of Improper Pressurization and Ventilation

Bryan Connors | October 2, 2018

Healthcare-acquired infections aren’t just dangerous to patients — they can also be very costly for the facilities in question. Since procedures and processes that are high risk for infection are performed in places like operating rooms and central processing, ensuring proper pressurization and ventilation to avoid infection is a matter of life and death. The...

BSL-2 Plus: When and How to Implement It in the Research Environment

Anthony Troiano | September 14, 2018

Biosafety Level 2 Plus (BSL-2+) is the common term for laboratories where work with microorganisms is conducted in a BSL-2 laboratory with biosafety practices and procedures that are typically found at BSL-3. The need for this hybrid approach is on the rise in recent years due to increased research with viral vectors, arboviruses, and other...

Oil Spill Prevention and Compliance: Does the SPCC Rule Apply to Your Facility?

Cindee Campisano | August 27, 2018

Typically, when we think about the dangers of oil spills, we think of mass quantities of oil affecting large bodies of water. However, effective oil spill protection involves thinking much broader and smaller. In fact, just one single pint of oil spilled into a body of water can damage up to an acre of an...

Value of the Design Review: Cutting Costs in the Beginning Can Cost More Later

Michael Della Barba | August 3, 2018

Researchers have put the average cost of construction rework at roughly 4 to 6 percent of a project’s total cost—and closer to 9 percent upon factoring in overhead costs. Too often rework is the result of an overlooked omission on the early drawings, something minute that isn’t addressed by a design team focused on the...

Construction Air Quality Monitoring for Higher Education

Matt Fragala | June 28, 2018

Putting a real-time air quality monitoring plan in place prior to a complicated demolition or interior renovation project can give universities an additional layer of assurance that they’re protecting sensitive populations in the area. Too often plans to control dust emission on demolition or renovation projects get overlooked. Once demolition has begun—and complaints of dust...

PCBs on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Need to Know About This Emerging Environmental Concern

Matt Fragala | May 14, 2018

As an institution of higher education, you’re focused on protecting the health and safety of your students, faculty and staff — all while maintaining the quality of your campus environment. But now, on campuses across the US, there is growing anxiety about potential health concerns from an old contaminant found in building materials: polychlorinated biphenyls,...