Overview
The Occupational Health Program (OHP) is dedicated to the continuous improvement of occupational health and safety by serving as a technical and professional resource for the UW-Madison campus community.
The OHP has credentialed safety, industrial hygiene and training staff to help assess hazards in all workplace settings found on the UW-Madison campus. Visit the Animal Safety Training page at Environment, Health & Safety for the safety training for individuals with animal contact. Visit the Environmental and Occupational Health site for information on ergonomics, bloodborne pathogens, respiratory protection and hearing conservation.
Guidelines
OHP provides expertise for completing the occupational health section in the animal protocol, administers required occupational health and safety training for animal users and facilitates the animal contact risk questionnaire, bloodborne pathogens protection and the respiratory protection programs.
Animal safety/animal protocol
- Tips for filling out the safety section of the animal protocol are available from EH&S Animal Safety page
- Please contact Carrie Ensrud, research safety coordinator, for questions regarding animal protocol review. To reach her, see Carrie Ensrud’s contact information on the EH&S Animal Safety website.
Animal user safety training
- In addition to RARC animal user orientation training, all personnel who work with live animals in research, teaching or outreach must complete one of the following online trainings:
- Safety for personnel with animal contact, geared toward the laboratory
- Agricultural safety, geared toward livestock use in a farm setting
- To complete one of the following trainings, go to Animal Safety Training and self-register for a course
Animal contact risk questionnaire
- After completing occupational health animal user safety training, animal users must complete an online animal contact risk questionnaire.
- See our Animal Contact Risk Questionnaire page for information on completing the questionnaire.
- Information reported on the risk questionnaire is kept confidential and is viewed by University Health Services medical staff only.
- Registration for a secure online patient account at MyUHS is required in order to complete the questionnaire.
Bloodborne pathogens program
- The Bloodborne Pathogens Program protects employees who may be exposed to human blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIMs) in the laboratory.
- All labs where exposure to blood or OPIMs is possible must implement a written exposure plan and lab employees must complete bloodborne pathogen training.
- See bloodborne pathogens on the EH&S site for information on implementing an exposure plan.
Respiratory protection
- To determine if your work requires respiratory protection, please contact Environmental & Occupational Health (EOH) to fill out an airborne hazard assessment form (doc)
- If the level of airborne hazard is found to require a respirator, certain regulatory requirements must be met, including implementation of a written program, medical surveillance and respirator fit testing.
- For further information on respiratory protection or to complete the medical surveillance and subsequent fit testing process refer to Environmental & Occupational Health
Resources
- Animal Research Safety
- Animal Contact Documentation and Guidance (fact sheets for use of hazardous substances in animal research)
- Animal Safety Hazards by Species
- Animal Safety Guidance Documents and Signage
- Ergonomics