1. Preface:
This document outlines the safety policies for the School of Aerospace Engineering. These policies cover (a) business and academic activities in offices and classrooms, (b) research tasks in laboratories, and outside in the field, (c) instructional activities in laboratories, and (d) other supporting activities such as those in the AE Shop, the AE Instrumentation Lab, and the AE Computer Support group.
2. General:
The AE Safety Policy is formulated by the Aerospace Facilities Committee and approved by the General Faculty in AE. This policy is intended to supplement Institutional safety guidelines, such as those outlined in the Department of Environmental Science, Health and Safety’s General Laboratory Safety Manual which can be downloaded in PDF format.
Recognizing that safety requires continuous thought and attention, an ongoing safety review process shall exist for each facility and instructional laboratory, and its results shall be periodically documented and updated. This review process shall be conducted with a minimum frequency of once per year.
The AE Safety Policy will be communicated to each faculty and staff member and to all post-doctoral students, visiting scholars, and graduate research assistants employed or associated in any way with the School. The primary means for this communications will be the AE Web Pages but paper copies will be available in the AE Business Office.
The AE Safety Policy as it pertains specifically to the undergraduate and graduate instructional laboratories will be communicated to each student taking one of these laboratory courses. The primary means for this communications will be the AE Web Pages, Lab Manuals and also the Academic Web Pages dealing with each course.
3. Aerospace Engineering Research Facilities
Safety is the foremost and overriding priority in the operation of any facility or equipment in the School.
Accordingly, it shall be the responsibility of the School to provide adequate safety equipment, and ensure the safety of the facility, regardless of the funding or other extraneous concerns of the work being conducted in the facility. This responsibility includes the prompt repair and up-to-date maintenance of facilities in a reasonably clean and safe manner.
Anyone, regardless of rank, age, etc. may refuse to participate in an activity which appears, in the sole judgement of that person, to be unsafe. If the safety issue can not be remedied to their satisfaction, the person should promptly notify the responsible faculty/staff member of their concerns.
It is the responsibility of every individual operating a facility or item of equipment, to consult and become conversant with the relevant operational instructions, and safety precautions, before commencing operation, and to keep thinking about safety during the operation. You can download the form developed by the AE Shop for this purpose by clicking here.
Each research facility must prepare a safety policy for that facility and make it available to all members in that group. The research facility safety policy must include both general safety guidelines as well as specific instructions for unusually hazardous devices and equipment and information on how to respond to medical emergencies. You can download a sample placard listing how to respond to medical emergencies.
4. Instructional Laboratories
Safety in the Aerospace Engineering instructional laboratories is always of primary concern in two respects: (a) safety of the students and staff during experimental procedures, and (b) instruction on the importance of laboratory safety and the teaching of safety awareness and safe laboratory procedures.
All laboratory graduate teaching assistants and staff will be instructed by the supervising course instructor on the importance of laboratory safety and the particular safety procedures in each laboratory.
All students enrolled in a laboratory course will receive general laboratory safety instruction at the outset of each course. Additional specific laboratory safety instruction will be provided as necessary to support subsequent individual experiments during the term.
Laboratory safety instructions must be incorporated into class notes or web pages associated with each undergraduate instructional laboratory. The laboratory instructors must emphasize to the students that these instructions are important and must be reviewed prior to carrying out any experiments in the laboratory. A copy of the safety instructions must be available in each undergraduate instructional laboratory. In addition, basic laboratory safety procedures must be prominently posted in the laboratory and should include appropriate information about how to respond to potential injuries. You can download a sample placard listing how to respond to medical emergencies.
Safety glasses, ear protection, and hard hats must be provided to students when appropriate in order to provide the safest possible environment for conducting experiments. Such devices must be placed in convenient and visible locations and their use required for all appropriate situations.
No laboratory may be conducted when hazardous conditions are present as a result of prior accidents or other damage to the facilities
5. Office Areas and Office Operations
All faculty and staff members will be periodically notified of the importance of safety and use of safe procedures in the workplace, and they will be instructed to review the Aerospace Engineering Safety Policies on the AE Web Page. Such notification will be no less frequently than annually.
A sample placard listing how to respond to medical emergencies can be downloaded, printed, and posted prominently in the each office area where 2 or more staff members work.
6. Support Facilities
Safety in the support facilities including the AE Machine Shop, the AE Instrumentation Laboratory and the AE Computer Support Group is important not only for the staff involved but also because these staff members are often role models for undergraduate and graduate students..
Each support facility must prepare a safety policy for that facility and make it available to all staff in that group. The support facility safety policy must include both general safety guidelines as well as specific instructions for unusually hazardous devices and equipment, and it must include appropriate information on how to respond to medical emergencies. The current AE Shop safety instructions can be downloaded here. A sample placard listing how to respond to medical emergencies can also be downloaded and posted prominently in all support facility areas.