Safety Committee to study environmental, physical hazards

An 18-member committee that includes representatives of a variety of departments -- from the Physical Plant to the University Library -- has been established to advise on matters related to the Offices of Safety & Environmental Affairs.

The Safety Committee will assist in the development and implementation of a comprehensive Safety Management Program and will perform other functions as well.

"The committee has three main goals -- to help formulate safety policy, to review the actions of the Safety Office and to publicize the activities of the Safety Office," said Henry Webber, Associate Vice President for Administration and chairman of the committee. "It also provides input on specific safety issues from a broad group of people within the University community and creates a forum for ongoing discussion about major safety issues."

The committee, which met for the first time in May, reports directly to Arthur Sussman, General Counsel and Vice President for Administration, who in turn works with a senior management safety group composed of Provost Geoffrey Stone, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Furnstahl and Associate Provost Gene Mazenko, as well as Sussman and Webber.

"The Safety Committee is a link between the faculty, the administration and the Safety Office," Sussman said. "With more than 190 campus buildings, more than 780 research labs and more than 380 classroom and institute labs, the University community is well served by having a broad range of input into safety policy."

The Safety Committee does not deal with issues of campus security -- its main focus is University safety policies and procedures related to environmental and physical hazards, such as chemical use and disposal; safety inspection procedures and activities, including compliance with OSHA standards; and the publication and distribution of safety-related information for the University community.

In addition to Webber, members of the Safety Committee are Lynn Bender, Director of Facilities Planning & Management; Dale Boyce, Director of Radiation Safety; William Caddick, Director of the Physical Plant; Margaret Fallers, Associate Provost; Sherry Gutman, Director of the University House System; Kurt Henriksen, Lab Manager for the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division; Glenn Klinksiek, Director of Risk Management; Erica Landsberg, Assistant General Counsel; Martina Munsters, Associate Dean of Students in the University; Rudolph Nimocks, Director of University Police; Renita Reynolds, Associate Director of Employee/Labor Relations; David Stafford, Assistant Director of the Laboratory Schools; Denise Weintraub, Personnel Officer for the University Library; Paul Weller, Director of Renovation and Facility Operations for the Biological Sciences Division; Tom Zaucha, Automation Manager and Safety Coordinator for Facilities Planning & Management; and ex officio members Patricia McIntosh, secretary for Classical Languages & Literatures, representing the Ergonomics Committee, and Robert Wynveen, Director of the ESH Division of Argonne National Laboratory, representing Argonne. The committee is staffed by Steven Beaudoin, Director of the Offices of Safety & Environmental Affairs.