2008 Woodie Awards
Department designed to keep students, faculty safe
Department of Safety and Environmental Compliance inspects, supervises, educates
April Havens
Editor in Chief
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: News
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While going mostly unnoticed, they have affected almost every aspect of student and employee life at the University.
Even when students and faculty cannot see them at work, they are diligently working behind the scenes to improve the safety of the University of South Alabama main campus as well as other USA-owned properties in the community.
The University of South Alabama department of safety and environmental compliance handles education and training, industrial hygiene and biological, chemical, fire and laboratory safety, and they are active in about 215 buildings on and off campus.
"We want to be proactive and make sure the environment is safe for you students to live in," said Director Bill Guess, who has been with the department for over seven years. He said the department's main mission is "supporting our students, faculty members and visitors and making sure they are safe as they come and go on campus."
The mission of the department, according to the USA campus Web site, is "to encourage a safe environment for faculty, staff, students and others by setting standards, monitoring for compliance, providing technical or support service and offering safety education."
The department's responsibilities range from removing trip hazards from hallways to overseeing the disposal of hazardous chemicals that arrive on campus and beyond. "From a risk management standpoint, property protection is a big issue, but we handle many other things too," Guess said.
"We have underground and above ground fuel storage tanks that we maintain. We have an industrial hygiene specialists who coordinates not only water sampling but also air sampling. We look after engineering controls for safety, such as ventilation in labs. And what we try to do with our training is supplement other departments and bring in outside trainers with expertise depending on the needs of the training missions," he said.
"We have some involvement with bio-safety that exists in the College of Medicine, and we supplement and extend that program elsewhere. We are involved with … the Local Emergency Planning Commission and the Metropolitan Medical Response System.
Even when students and faculty cannot see them at work, they are diligently working behind the scenes to improve the safety of the University of South Alabama main campus as well as other USA-owned properties in the community.
The University of South Alabama department of safety and environmental compliance handles education and training, industrial hygiene and biological, chemical, fire and laboratory safety, and they are active in about 215 buildings on and off campus.
"We want to be proactive and make sure the environment is safe for you students to live in," said Director Bill Guess, who has been with the department for over seven years. He said the department's main mission is "supporting our students, faculty members and visitors and making sure they are safe as they come and go on campus."
The mission of the department, according to the USA campus Web site, is "to encourage a safe environment for faculty, staff, students and others by setting standards, monitoring for compliance, providing technical or support service and offering safety education."
The department's responsibilities range from removing trip hazards from hallways to overseeing the disposal of hazardous chemicals that arrive on campus and beyond. "From a risk management standpoint, property protection is a big issue, but we handle many other things too," Guess said.
"We have underground and above ground fuel storage tanks that we maintain. We have an industrial hygiene specialists who coordinates not only water sampling but also air sampling. We look after engineering controls for safety, such as ventilation in labs. And what we try to do with our training is supplement other departments and bring in outside trainers with expertise depending on the needs of the training missions," he said.
"We have some involvement with bio-safety that exists in the College of Medicine, and we supplement and extend that program elsewhere. We are involved with … the Local Emergency Planning Commission and the Metropolitan Medical Response System.
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