RSO's Roles &
Responsibility
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This page summarizes the
roles and responsibilities of a University of Minnesota research safety
officer (RSO); and provides suggestions and resources to help you, as
an RSO, meet these. The Department of Environmental Health and Safety
(DEHS) bases this page on the responsibilities defined within the University's
Research Safety Program.
There are six core roles for the RSO:
Act as a Liason
An RSO functions as a liaison between the DEHS and
his/her department and /or unit.
Main
responsibilities:
- Work with DEHS to ensure your department is in
compliance with all standards and regulations.
- Work with DEHS to assess new safety and health
hazards.
- Consult with DEHS staff members and your
department head to shutdown any imminent health hazards.
- Consult
with principal investigators (PIs) and appropriate departmental staff
to make sure they are aware of any environmental health and safety
issues.
Suggested ways to achieve this:
- Attend RSO Training.
DEHS provides new and update training for RSOs on a yearly basis.
Training materials from these events are also available online. See our
RSO
Training section
for more information.
- Contact DEHS Staff.
DEHS staff members are available to answer any questions, and help you
deal with any health and safety issues and/or emergencies. See our Contact Us
section for contact information.
Know The Rules
An
RSO must be knowledgeable of the various environmental health and
safety rules that are applicable to their department's area of
research. The rules that apply depend upon your areas of research,
and are imposed by a variety of federal, state, county and University
agencies and programs. Regulations (e.g., OSHA, NRC, EPA, and MERTKA)
are government requirements. Policies (e.g., Research Safety Plan, and
Hazardous Waste Guidebook) are University and/or granting agencies
requirements.
Main responsibilities:
Be aware of relevant regulations and policies.
Suggested ways to achieve this:
- Attend RSO training.
DEHS provides new and update training for RSOs on a yearly basis.
Training materials from these events are also available online. See our
RSO Training section for more information.
- Join the RSO Contact List.
DEHS will contact RSO periodically, through an email list, with any new
or important information, such as a newly implemented policy or the
quarterly newsletter. See our RSO Contact List for more information.
- Review Health and Safety Resources.
DEHS has created the Health and Safety Resources page: an index that
lists numerous DEHS and outside resources available on a variety of
health and safety issues.
- Review the generic Research Safety Plan.
This document contains a great deal of information about many health
and safety regulations that must be met.
- Contact DEHS Staff Members.
DEHS staff members are available to answer any questions, and help you
deal with any health and safety issues and/or emergencies. See our
About Us section for contact information.
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Implement a
Research Safety Plan
A
primary task for an RSO is to ensure that he/she has implemented a
Research Safety Plan (RSP) for his/her department. The RSP describes
policies, procedures, equipment, personal protective equipment and work
practices for protecting employees from hazards in laboratories. The
RSP meets requirements in both the federal Laboratory Safety Standard
and the Minnesota Employee Right To Know Act (MERTKA).
Main Responsibilities
- Modify the University's generic plan to fit
your department.
- Perform an annual evaluation of your plan and
update as necessary.
- Submit a copy of your plan to DEHS, to the
attention of the Chemical Hygiene Officer.
- Ensure
all PIs and researcher personnel are knowledegable of the contents of
the RSP and have access to it within their laboratories and/or fields.
- Ensure
that PIs have written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all of
their research protocols that include information on any hazards, and
safety measures necessary to mitigate these hazards.
Suggested ways to achieve this:
- Attend RSO Training.
DEHS provides new and update training for RSOs on a yearly basis, in
which they cover the RSP in some detail. See our RSO Training
section
for more information.
- Use the DEHS RSP template to tailor an RSP for
your department. The Research Safety Plan
template is a
generic RSP that provides directions to help you
tailor it for your department.
- Provide each PI with a print copy of your RSP,
and place a copy online.
- Include information in annual training and
consult directly with PIs about the safety information in your RSP.
- Solicit feedback from the PIs about the
modifications that you have made to the RSP.
- Consult
with PIs about the potential hazards that can/have occurred within
their areas of research; and suggest safety measures that mitigate
these hazards to help them as they write their SOPs. Use the DEHS
Health and Safety Resources; review Standard
Operating Procedures of the generic Research Safety Plan (which
provides details on general SOPs), use our
New PI/Research Area Evaluation Guide,
and/or contact DEHS staff members, if you need information to guide
your consultations with PIs.
- Contact DEHS Staff Members.
DEHS staff members are available to answer any questions as you develop
the RSP. See our About Us section for contact information.
Coordinate
Training
An
RSO ensures that all PIs and research personnel receive basic safety
training. An RSO also makes sure that PIs provide their research
personnel with safety training about their specific research protocols
and procedures.
Main responsibilities:
- Make sure PIs are aware of all required safety
training for themselves and their research employees.
- Arrange general departmental training sessions
for research employees.
- Educate PIs and other researchers about the
RSP.
- Make sure PIs regularly train their research
personnel about their SOPs.
Suggested ways to achieve this:
- Consult
PIs about the potential hazards that can/have occurred within their
areas of research, and suggest safety measures that mitigate these
hazards, to help them write their SOPs. Use the DEHS Health and
Safety Resources; review Standard
Operating Procedures of the generic Research Safety Plan (which
provides details on general SOPs), use our New PI/Research Area
Evaluation Guide, and/or contact DEHS staff members, if you need
information to guide your consultations with PIs.
- Review Employee
Information and Training of the RSP to learn about various training
topics that must be covered and recorded.
- Send PIs and other research personnel to DEHS
for any available training. See our Training page
to find any DEHS training available in your department's area of
research.
- Include detailed information about your RSP in
your annual training for PIs and research personnel.
- Include
information about the PIs responsibility to write and implement SOPs,
in your annual training for PIs and research personnel.
- Collect minutes of mandatory training meetings
led by PIs and yourself.
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Perform Audits
An
RSO is responsible for checking that all research areas are safe, that
equipment is working as it should, and that all safety rules are
followed.
Main responsibilities:
- Carry-out inspections (at least annually) of
all laboratories and research areas.
- Check
the physical lab set up for any health and safety issues, such as safe
functioning of laboratory and safety equipment, and proper chemical
storage and handling.
- Check that researchers are aware
of and can access pertinent safety documents (e.g., their department�s
RSP, lab-specific SOPs, MSDSs) and that all training records are
current.
- Monitor researchers as they perform lab
procedures to ensure that they follow SOPs accurately, use chemicals
safely, keep their safety equipment working and accessible, manage
wastes properly, and comply with any other related health and safety
issues.
- Report your audit findings to appropriate
PI/Lab
Supervisors, and inform them of their responsibility to take action on
any noted deficiencies.
- Take follow-up actions on any audits that
reveal safety deficiencies.
Suggested ways to achieve this:
- Use the DEHS Audit Checklist
DEHS has developed an audit checklist, located in the DEHS�s generic
Research Safety Plan, that details areas to review when performing an
audit.
- Check that PIs have written copies of safety
procedures and protocols for their research.
- Review Employee
Information & Training of the RSP to refresh yourself with the
safety documents that must be accessible to all researchers. Follow up
on audits.
- Follow up on audits.
There are many actions you can take to follow-up on audits, such as:
ask for written responses from PIs; schedule a follow-up
audit/consultation to review any noted safety problems, and/or contact
DEHS for assistance.
- Review the Research
Safety
Program. This
document provides information about actions to take in the event of
continued non-compliance, and details the responsibility of various
University community members to maintain research safety.
- Review
publications from related professional organizations. Professional
organizations (e.g., American Chemical Society, Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, National AG Safety Database) provide detailed information in
a particular area of research, which you can use to guide your audits.
- Contact Facilities Management
Facilities Management can perform maintenance checks and repairs on
items such as fume hoods, fire extinguishers, and more.
Keep Records
RSOs assure that departmental health and safety
records and forms are kept in an adequate, accessible, and complete
manner.
Main responsibilities:
- Training:
RSOs must maintain, and monitor for compliance, records of all required
training provided to research personnel in their department, including
training given to PIs.
- Audits: RSO must maintain records of the
lab/research space audits they perform and their audit findings and
follow-up actions.
- Exposure Monitoring: An RSO must file records
of research spaces' air monitoring and any findings.
Suggested ways to achieve this:
- Review Employee
Information and Training of the RSP to learn about lab safety
training topics that must be covered and recorded.
- Review Record
Keeping, Review & Update of the Research Laboratory Safety Plan
of the RSP to learn details about various record-keeping requirements
that must be met.
- Collect
minutes of any mandatory training sessions you give, that details what
was covered in the session, and who was there (include a sign-in
sheet), and attach any handouts that were given.
- Download DEHS's simple, Word
record-keeping form (suggested for smaller departments/research
laboratories) to track training given to safety personnel in your
department.
- DEHS
will send you any exposure monitoring reports taken within your
department, which you must be file for up to 3 years. DEHS will notify
you if any other actions must be taken in response to the reports (such
as notifying affected individuals, and posting the reports in
appropriate locations).
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