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Vivarium Safety Management Plans

The new Vivarium Safety Management Plan has been adapted from the EH&S Laboratory Safety program new Risk Assessment Process to replace traditional inspections. The EH&S Animal Research Safety Program works with our stakeholders in the vivariums to proactively prevent health and safety concerns within the UCLA vivariums.

The Vivarium Safety Management Plans gives the opportunity for EH&S and the vivarium teams to discuss specific hazards and safety concerns, and to create a safety plan document to refer back to for each vivarium.
 

Vivarium Safety Management Plan Document

The document contains 4 sections:
 

1) Basic Information

  • Contact Info
  • Location
  • Summary of work
  • Animal species
  • Hazards
  • PPE

2) Risk Assessment

  • Prevent unsafe actions in the vivarium, as opposed to correcting unsafe conditions.
  • Operations
  • Mitigation strategies
  • Risk levels

3) Safety Assessment

  • Accidents/ near misses
  • Internal training
  • External training
  • Security
  • Storage
  • Waste Management
  • Emergency Management
  • General safety & Housekeeping
  • Equipment maintenance
  • Updates & Revisions

4) Sign Plan

  • EH&S Animal Research Safety and Vivarium managers agree to completed document

 

Schedule

The Animal Research Safety Program will assist your vivarium to implement the new safety management plans through 3-year cycles. The Vivarium Safety Management Plans follow the schedule cycle below including an initial walkthrough to identify risks and hazards. Then an initial meeting with the vivarium mangers and staff to talk about risks, hazards, concerns and start the Vivarium Safety Management Plan document. After the safety plan document has been submitted for review to EH&S, a follow-up walkthrough of the vivarium will be conducted to ensure the plan is accurate and efficient. This is also an additional opportunity to correct any practices if work has changed in the vivarium.

A picture of the Vivarium Safety Plans

Related Links

Animal Research Safety Program

Inspections @ UCLA

EH&S Office Hours & Services