SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS

The UTMB EHS team responds to small- or large-scale spills 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The first few hours following a spill or release are critical and can have substantial impacts on human health and the environment.

In order to allow laboratory space to be reassigned to new researchers, it must go through a decommissioning process to ensure the safety of the new occupants. Lab decommissioning begins with notification that the researcher intends to vacate (or has already vacated) the space.

Environmental Protection Management manages the Public Water System at UTMB with daily water sampling.

After a 2 year COVID hiatus, UTMB hosted the annual Earth Day event on the plaza in front of the Moody Medical Library on Friday, April 15th.

Off-site chemical incidents, as well as other emergencies within and outside our facilities, can impact UTMB’s ability to fulfill our mission. Being able to respond appropriately to these types of incidents in order to minimize impact and downtime requires careful planning, training, and periodic drills to test our plans. EHS works hard to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure organizational resiliency and effective responses to emergency incidents.

The UTMB Biocontainment Care Unit (BCU) was established in 2014 to be one of 10 federally funded Regional Emerging and Special Pathogens Treatment Centers (RESPTC) capable of caring for individuals infected with highly contagious pathogens with profound potential societal impact such as Ebola, and other hemorrhagic fever viruses.

EHS is continuing to improve emergency communications on campus through a series of technology innovations and network improvements. Of note, we now have a campus-wide mass notification system which integrates overhead voice alerts with fire alarms, Everbridge text alerts, infant abduction alerts, and active shooter alerts. Now, alerts are automated to some or all users as conditions dictate. An additional benefit is now we are able to issue “All-Clear”, prerecorded messages outside of buildings to allow occupants back in much quicker once the scene is cleared or a drill is over. In some cases, the new notification time from incident report to notification of occupants has dropped by >90% now that they are fully automatic. Note: As before, please call 911 or (409) 772-1111 (Campus Police) to report all emergencies.

The Construction Safety program supports the safe execution of construction activities across all campuses.

The UTMB EHS team, responds to small- or large-scale spills 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The first few hours following a spill or release are critical and can have substantial impacts on human health and the environment. Therefore, rapid response is crucial to mitigate the impacts of an accidental release. In FY22, UTMB had a variety of spills ranging from petroleum products to corrosive materials. The most recent spill occurred when a flange on an aboveground diesel line failed and released several hundred gallons of diesel, some of which made its way into a nearby storm drain. Red diesel (aka off-road diesel) was visible in the storm drain. When a petroleum product reaches the water, it creates a shiny iridescence appearance on the surface of the water comparable to the colors of a rainbow, commonly referred to as a “sheen”. Following the diesel release, UTMB personnel observed a sheen on the water in the underground storm sewer near the spill location. As previously mentioned, response time is critical to containing a spill and lessening the impact on the environment. During this particular incident, EHS responded quickly and was able to contain the spill within the storm water system by isolating the leaking diesel line and using multiple absorbent booms to prevent the product from migrating towards nearby Galveston Bay. UTMB also called in a third-party spill response contractor to help assist in the cleanup efforts. Due to the quick and effective response, EHS recovered the vast majority of the diesel and, more importantly, prevented an impact to Galveston Bay.

Vacuuming the diesel sheen floating on the water

EPM personnel preparing booms for installation into the storm drain Cleanup crew working to contain the spill Absorbent booms placed outside to prevent spill from entering Galveston Bay

At one time or another, a research laboratory on campus will close. This might be due to faculty retirement, moving into new laboratory space, or simply the faculty leaving the university. However, lab closures happen and it is important to realize that a process needs to be followed to ensure the safe shutdown of the lab. EHS works to ensure that laboratories that are no longer in use have been appropriately decommissioned in order to minimize residual safety hazards as well as to ensure the compliant management of hazardous waste streams.

Lab decommissioning begins with notification to EHS that the Principal Investigator (PI) intends to vacate (or has already vacated) the space. EHS tries to stay ahead of these decisions by participating in planning meetings with the Academic Enterprise, but sometimes we do not know what is happening until we get a phone call from the department telling us they want the lab cleaned out so they can reassign it to a new researcher. As soon as we learn that a lab needs to be decommissioned, several processes initiate to ensure that everything is done correctly.

All laboratory equipment used with hazardous materials (chemicals, radiologicals, biologicals) must be decontaminated before it is relocated and sent to surplus. EHS provides a laboratory equipment decontamination form online, which once submitted, prompts an EHS employee to go and verify that the equipment has actually been decontaminated and that all warning labels have been removed from it. EHS provides training to our movers to ensure that they know not to relocate equipment that still has warning stickers or that does not have a decontamination form attached.

Hazardous waste contractors identify and sort hazardous chemicals

A laboratory in the process of having its waste removed

Lab packs containing hazardous waste from a lab closure Buckets containing hazardous waste preparing to be removed from lab EHS will also begin a review of the hazardous chemical inventory for the lab. This review of the hazardous chemical inventory allows us to identify materials that may be of particularly high risk to handlers (time-sensitive, shock-sensitive) or that might have unique waste disposal requirements. Once the inventory is reviewed, EHS will visit the lab to observe its condition and verify the contents of the inventory. For a lab cleanout that might involve hundreds of chemicals needing to be disposed, this can be a time-consuming process where each chemical is identified, hazards determined, and prepared for off-site shipment and disposal.

Dean Leathers, Sr. EHS Specialist, collects multiple water samples The EPM Program manages the UTMB Public Water System for compliance with federal and state public drinking water rules and regulations established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the TCEQ. Some of these responsibilities include daily monitoring of chlorine residual disinfectant, total coliform bacteria sampling, lead & copper level sampling, disinfectant byproduct monitoring, and the associated reporting to the TCEQ.

After a 2 year COVID hiatus, UTMB hosted the annual Earth Day event on the plaza in front of the Moody Medical Library on Friday, April 15th. There were many vendors, 2 food trucks, and the guests were given Loblolly Pine seedlings. Dean Leathers, EPM, is the EHS representative for planning and executing Earth Day at UTMB, along with Angela McDowell and Neal Cooper, BOF Sustainability. The Earth Day Committee is strongly supported by UTMB Leadership. This year Aaron LeMay, interim Chief Financial and Business Officer, spoke about green energy.

Earth Day food trucks

Dean Leathers, EPM, delivering the Loblolly Pine seedlings

Angela McDowell, Dean Leathers, Kimberly Vaughn, Diana Davison, Tilly Clark, Gwendolyn Boles, Michelle Reznicek, Carol Jenkins, and Neal Cooper

UTMB is located in a region with a large petrochemical industry. Every day, hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals are transported or processed within relatively close proximity to our facilities. Although industry does their best to prevent spills and releases that impact the surrounding community, the reality is that sometimes things happen which are neither expected or desired, having consequences on their neighbors. In one example, the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) experienced a 2019 fire in their Deer Park Facility that burned for days, releasing a plume of toxic smoke that impacted surrounding regions. Fortunately, impact to UTMB facilities was minimal, but exemplified the risk facing our facilities from such large-scale industrial disasters.

In order to minimize the impact from such events, EHS has taken steps to help bolster our internal response capabilities as well as to improve coordination between UTMB and outside organizations. Utilizing Resource Allocation Program (RAP) funding, EHS purchased additional air monitoring equipment. This equipment has been pre-positioned at each of our regional hospital locations, allowing for more rapid response to evaluate atmospheric conditions in a UTMB facility should there be an incident. In addition, we have reviewed and updated existing emergency response plans as well as developed a new plan focused on identifying how we will respond to an off-site incident that might be creating an impact to UTMB facilities.

In FY22, EHS continued to work with internal and external customers to improve emergency response across the campuses, and work with our community to improve regional and institutional response to large-scale chemical releases. We hosted a variety of training this past year as in prior years. Some training included:

• Response coordination with local industry simulating employee exposures to Hydrofluoric acid • O.R. fire safety and mock patient evacuation training • Emergency drills starting with a regular fire drill but escalating the “event” to include senior management and review potential evacuation protocols.

SKED vertical evacuation training with nursing O.R. fire response training and evacuation drill

The UTMB Biocontainment Care Unit (BCU) was established in 2014 to be one of 10 federally funded Regional Emerging and Special Pathogens Treatment Centers (RESPTC), capable of caring for individuals infected with highly contagious pathogens with profound potential societal impact such as Ebola and other hemorrhagic fever viruses. Providing care for individuals either infected with or under investigation for those diseases requires specialized personal protective equipment for health workers, rigorous waste management protocols, and careful handling of clinical laboratory specimens.

Environmental Health and Safety plays an important role to ensure the safety of the healthcare workers, patient(s), and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel. Our responsibilities start with the first notification that we are receiving a patient and working with our Facilities group to ensure the readiness of the BCU. We are then the first point of contact once the patient arrives to ensure a safe entry into the unit. Our focus then shifts to assisting EMS personnel with waste management and doffing. The success of the EHS BCU team is accomplished by training, drilling, and collaborating with Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC), National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) and UTMB Special Pathogens Excellence in Clinical Treatment Readiness & Education Program (SPECTRE).

The author, pastor, and leadership expert, John C. Maxwell once wrote that “if you are proactive, you focus on preparing. If you are reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.” As UTMB continues its more than -130 year tradition of excellence in preparedness and response to emerging infectious diseases, collaborations like this one will help the institution, our region, and the State of Texas be ready for whatever may come next, whether it is already here or not.

Swan Miller, EHS Specialist, training on personal protective equipment (PPE)

Je T’Aime Newton, Principal EHS Specialist, provides training on donning & doffing PPE as Eddie Stanaland, Principal EHS Specialist, observes

Morgan Gerami, Sr. EHS Specialist, and Meagan Thibodaux, Principal EHS Specialist, training on PPE use and wear

EHS is continuing to improve emergency communications on campus through a series of technology innovations and network improvements. Of note, UTMB Health now has a campus-wide mass notification system integrating fire alarms, Everbridge, infant abduction alerts, and active shooter alerts. These integrations allow us to issue automated alerts for each type of emergency both by pre-recorded overhead/outside messages and through Everbridge to select or all users.

An additional benefit is that we are now able to issue “All-Clear”, prerecorded messages outside of buildings, to allow occupants back in much quicker once the scene is cleared or a drill is over. In some cases, the notification time from incident report to notification of occupant has dropped by >90% now that it is fully automatic. Note: As before, please call 911 or (409) 772-1111 (Campus Police) to report all emergencies.

Current systems that have been integrated, providing for rapid, automatic responses include:

• Infant abduction system (aka “Dr. Pink”) • Active shooter alert (aka “Amber box”) • Fire alarm (aka “Dr. Red”)

Additionally, EHS has further leveraged the Everbridge system by using “phased templates” to increase speed of communication during events. For internal responses, we now alert staff with the event, requested responders, and resources needed. The system follows the standard Incident Command Response format and allows us to build on the event, send pictures back to the group within that event, update who the incident commander is, additional resources needed, and have a single, continuous communication log to review in the After-Action Report following. As a bonus, the system automatically changes who is notified based on the time of day.

Dr. Mario Soares, Principal EHS Specialist

Everbridge notifications initial alert example Everbridge notifications initial alert example

The Construction Safety program supports the safe execution of construction activities across all campuses. The program collaborates with BOF departments to facilitate safety processes on capital projects including construction for deferred maintenance, renovations, infrastructure upgrades, and new development. Recently, the institution has reinitiated participation in the UT System Rolling Owner Controlled Insurance Program (ROCIP) with the John Sealy Hospital Modernization Phase III project. In order to support our commitment to this initiative, an extensive review of the project safety management plan must be conducted, including the approval of contractor safety team members, subcontractors, and designated occupational clinics. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) meetings are held after a high-level observation is identified, an injury, property damage, or when requested by UTMB. Crane operations can be considered a high-risk activity; therefore a comprehensive review of a crane lift plan is conducted prior to a lift is required to ensure compliance with federal and campus requirements. The program has also worked to implement several safety initiatives with Job Order Contracting (JOC) Services which include, contractor safety orientations, monthly project reporting, and recently, full-time safety oversight for these projects.

Construction Safety Audits

Crane Use Notification Form (CUNF) Reviews

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Developed

Level A Severity Deficiencies Identified

John Sealy Hospital Construction

Jeremy Davis EHS Technician January 2022 Sarah Paredes

EHS Technician February 2022 Gale Butler

EHS Technician March 2022 Mariia Arkypova

Business Coordinator May 2022

Swan Miller, EHS Specialist (ROccS) • Certified Safety Professional (CSP) Je T’Aime Newton, Principal EHS Specialist (ROccS) • Presented at the College and University

Hazardous Material Management Conference presentation titled “Managing a Respiratory

Protection Program During the COVID-19

Pandemic” Jordan Sweet, EHS Specialist (EPM) • Class D Water Operator License • Class D Waste Water Operator License Sarah Paredes, EHS Technician (ROccS) • Associates of Art Degree (AA) Morgan Gerami, Sr. EHS Specialist (ROccS) • Associate Safety Professional (ASP) • Class D Water License from the Texas

Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Adam Jennings, EHS Specialist (ROccS) • Associate Safety Professional (ASP) • Certified Safety Professional (CSP) Dr Timothy Read, Principal EHS Specialist (F&LS) • Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP) Michael Puccetti, EHS Specialist (F&LS) • Associates of Applied Sciences (AAS) Brandon Metting, EHS Specialist (F&LS) • EST-4 Programmer Certification Dr. William Pate, Director Radiation & Occupational Safety Program • Published revised chapter on waste management in the Association for

Professionals in Infection Control &

Epidemiology (APIC) Text

1. On-call staff SCBA training 2. Brandon Metting, F&LS, shows Texas State Fire Marshall building fire suppression system 3. Jordan Sweet & Sergio Garcia, EPM, bulking chemicals in CAF 4. Mike Puccetti, F&LS, inspects progress of sprinklering in Levin Hall Auditorium 5. Mike Puccetti & Chuck Carlisle, F&LS, assist UTPD Tech Operations with delayed egress hardware 6. Todd Perry, F&LS, performs annual Fire Safety training in OR 7. A. David Stephenson, ROccS 8. Michael Shulke, EPM, and Swan Miller, ROccS, during spill response exercise 9. Walter Mays, F&LS, inspects construction project 10. Clinton Straitwell, F&LS 11. Jordan Sweet, EPM 12. Jim Stone, ROccS 13. Geraldine Giannotti, F&LS 14. Samantha Thompson & Sarah Paredes, ROccS, driving across campus in Kubota to perform fit tests 15. Nursing Fire Safety training 16. Sergio Garcia, EPM 17. Sergio Garcia & Jordan Sweet, EPM, loading waste for transportation 18. Meagan Thibodaux, EPM, loading barrels of waste at CSW dock for transport 19. Je T’Aime Newton, ROccS, & Sergio Garcia, EPM, preparing medical waste for transport 20. Swan Miller & Darla Goodman, ROccS, calibrating personal radiation detectors for UTMB Police 21. Geraldine Giannotti & Billy Martin, F&LS, recording training videos showing proper fire extinguisher use 22. Jeremy Davis & Kendle Latiolais, ROccS, demonstrating proper eyewash use