Roles and Responsibilities
Departments
University policy 1005 requires that departments maintain safe and healthy living, learning, and working environments for faculty, staff, students, and visitors to our campus. Incidences should be investigated to determine corrective and preventative action(s).
- Departments must ensure that all work-related injuries and illnesses, regardless of whether the employee sought medical attention, are reported to Human Resources via the Employer’s Accident Report.
- Each department should require that all persons with supervisory responsibilities and designated safety representatives attend Environmental Health & Safety Accident Investigation training.
Designated Safety Representatives (DSRs)
Departmental designated safety representatives should:
- Work with Environmental Health & Safety as necessary to investigate accidents that are serious in nature to identify causes and help implement corrective/preventative action(s).
- Review accident data for the department to identify trends, and investigate accidents to identify causes and implement preventative action(s).
- Communicate departmental accident data to supervisory and management personnel periodically (i.e. quarterly, semi-annually, or annually).
- Coordinate corrective/preventative action(s) with departmental supervisory and management personnel, as necessary.
- Respond to corrective action requests issued by Environmental Health & Safety.
Supervisors/Principle Investigators
Supervisors/PIs are responsible for:
- Investigating accidents that are minor in nature or frequent in occurrence (i.e. trends) to identify causes and implement corrective/preventative action(s).
- Assisting departmental safety representatives and/or Environmental Health & Safety with accident investigations for all serious injuries/illnesses occurring within your area of responsibility, or where your personnel was involved either directly or indirectly (e.g. a witness to the incident).
- Responding to corrective action requests issued by Environmental Health & Safety.
Employees/Students
Employees/students involved in a work-related injury or experiencing a work-related illness must:
- Report the injury or illness to their supervisor immediately.
- Ensure that an Employer's Accident Report has been completed for worker's compensation purposes if an employee.
- Cooperate with university personnel involved in the investigation.
Environmental, Health and Safety
Environmental, Health & Safety will provide technical support, accident investigation training, and oversight for this program; however, involvement by Environmental, Health & Safety does not relieve the departments, supervisors, or contractors of their individual responsibilities. Environmental Health & Safety's responsibilities for this program include:
- Developing, implementing, and administering the program.
- Training on all aspects of the program requirements and maintaining centralized records.
- Serving as a technical resource.
- Conducting accident investigations for incidents that are serious in nature, involve a fatality or other injury where notification to OSHA is required, involve contractors, or which may be of special interest (i.e. trends, high rates of incidents).
- Serving as liaison with external agencies, such as Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) or worker's compensation representatives, during their investigations.
Contractors
Contractors must comply with all local, state, and federal safety requirements, and must assure that all employees performing work on Virginia Tech property have been suitably trained and are provided appropriate personal protective equipment per the Safety Requirements for Contractors and Subcontractors program. Contractors should notify Environmental Health & Safety of any incident involving serious injury where OSHA may investigate. Environmental Health & Safety may investigate any incident involving contractors and Virginia Tech personnel or the public. Corrective and/or preventative action recommendations will be communicated to the contractor and Virginia Tech project manager.