| Commitment to Safety | Personal Protective Equipment | |
| Fire Protection | ||
| First Aid | ||
| Hazard Communication |
Commitment to Safety
Please make a safety commitment to yourself,
your department, and your College. Make that same commitment to your loved
ones! Always hazard assess your wok areas. Slips, trips and falls
still gives NVCC its biggest challenge, even without snow or icy conditions.
Stay attentive at all times! When you find a potential problem, call the campus facility or business manager for help in rectifying the problem.
Wear personal protective equipment to guard against the hazard. Your office should also have a fully stocked first aid kit and everyone knows where it is kept. Call 911 when an incident is beyond the scope of a first aid matter. Contact the campus police immediately thereafter so they can assist in directing at the emergency site. Please remember to remain with and comfort the injured person until help arrives. Alert Human Resources at 703-323-3361 that an accident has occurred and complete appropriate paperwork.
Use common sense as a guide to prevent accidents. Stay focused, and enjoy life.
Fire Protection
Please take this self test:
Did your campus practice your fire protection and evacuation procedures prior to the start of the spring semester?
Are you aware that there is an evacuation plan?
Did you encounter any difficulty getting out of your office and out the building?
Did you use the primary or alternate route?
Did you encounter any obstacles, and if so, did you notify anyone to eliminate the problem?
Are you prepared to help any of the handicapped employees of students exit the office and building?
Fire protection awareness and evacuation is a concern for all of us. Please do your part to keep everyone safe.
First Aid
If someone in the classroom, office or work
area has a minor cut or has a bloody nose, assist that person to help
themselves. Provide them with a paper towel, handkerchief or tissue.
Ask them to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. If blood content happen
to fall onto the desks or floor, please block off the area and stay clear.
It is equally important that you communicate to the key individuals or departments who will respond to the clean up of the blood spots or spills. During normal business hours, please contact campus facility maintenance and provide them with the exact location. After 4:00 P.M., contact the campus police who will in turn direct the clean up crew. Remember, first aid is first aid. In emergencies, dial 911 and then alert the campus police so they may assist in directing the emergency medical team to the correct location. As always, stay focused and continue to use commonsense as your guide in everything you do.
Hazard Communication
It is every employee's right to know about
any chemicals in the wok area. Each campus has a Hazard Communication Plan
and it must be accessible. All of us should be knowledgeable of the plan,
even the agencies that only have very few chemical products that are in support
of department copying machines, fax machines, etc.
Consult the campus environmental coordinator, who is normally employed in the science and chemistry area, for appropriate hazard information. For example, there must be Material Safety Data Sheets, or MSDS, available, in areas where there are chemicals. Chemicals need to be labeled and stored in appropriate storage cabinets. Training is normally conducted at least annually, and it should be documented.
Finally, NVCC coordinates a hazardous waste pick up at least once a year for appropriate disposal. If there are any questions, please ask the campus environmental coordinator about chemicals on your campus and department.
Personal Protective Equipment
Please wear the protective equipment
designed to protect against the hazard. Review the tasks associated with
your job, analyze them and eliminate any hazards found. If you cannot
eliminate the hazard, wear appropriate protective equipment. Is is your
defense against the work place hazard. The OSHA standard requires the
college to buy the necessary equipment to protect you while you work, for
example, hard hats for head protection, helmets for welding, gloves for
applicable work, and steel toed shoes.
For your safety, please take advantage of this opportunity. Team up with your supervisor and hazard assess together. Maintain the equipment in good operational order, and store it when not in use. You may wish to apply this information on protective equipment while doing chores around your home or community. Do not take a safety break. Protect yourself.