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Each year, thousands of workers are killed, and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. Please join us on Worker Memorial Day to honor those who have died in 2024 from a work-related injury or illness in King County. This special ceremony will raise awareness

The University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Worker Memorial Day 2025 event is a special ceremony that raises awareness about strengthening our commitment to making jobs safer and saving lives in Washington State.

Processes for treatment and disposal of animal biosafety level 1 (ABSL-1) animal carcasses have been updated with input from the UW Infectious Waste Committee and the UW Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). These updates were made to align with current regulatory requirements and best practices.

Updated ABSL-1 waste treatment and disposal procedures

ABSL-1 animal waste will now be packaged and sent for off-site incineration.

In the event of a spill or exposure to biohazardous materials, established response procedures and reporting requirements apply to all students and personnel of the UW. Researchers should review and share this information with laboratory personnel.

Help raise awareness of safe lab practices at the UW!

Lab Safety Awareness Week is sponsored by CSHEMA and held at academic institutions nationwide February 10-14, 2025. This event is dedicated to recognizing the successes of laboratory safety programs and offering ideas on how to keep our faculty, staff and students safe.

Be a Safety Champion in your lab and receive a prize!

Why should labs have a standard operating procedure (SOP) for a chemical when the manufacturer safety data sheet (SDS) is available? Both documents are required in the lab and offer different types of important information about a chemical.

Use the SOPs versus SDSs Focus Sheet to understand the types of information provided by each document and how to effectively use them as part of your laboratory’s chemical hygiene plan.

Chemical waste generators will soon have a new, faster way to submit a Routine Chemical Waste Collection Request. 

Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) is in the process of adding QR codes on all routine waste carboys to make submitting a collection request quick and easy: 

1. Scan the QR code on the carboy. 

The recent biological safety level recommendations from the CDC and NIH to reduce the SARS-CoV-2 risk group biosafety levels (BSLs) prompted the University of Washington Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) to review biosafety levels. 

The University’s 2024 Work-Related Injury and Illness Summaries are now available for download and posting. University units are required to download the summary for their location and post it from February 1 to April 30, 2025, in a location where personnel can easily access it.

The December 2024 version of the UW Laboratory Safety Manual (LSM) is now available for download or printing. It's time for principal investigators to review, bookmark, or print a copy of the updated LSM and make it available for all personnel and students in your lab.