SA0100 – Safety and Environmental Health Program

SECTION 1. Policy Statement

1. Introduction
   1. The University of Tennessee System is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy environment for its students, employees, visitors, and the University’s surrounding communities.
   2. This policy outlines the roles and responsibilities for assurance that each campus or institute develops and maintains appropriate environment, safety, and security programs that protect students, employees, visitors, and the University’s surrounding communities.
   3. The University maintains this policy, in part, out of an acknowledgment that maintaining a reasonably safe environment is integral to the University successfully achieving its missions of teaching, research, and public service.
   4. The University will ensure that it complies with applicable laws and regulations. In some cases, the University will voluntarily adopt certain industry standards or best practices, including standards set forth by various accrediting academic and scientific agencies.
2. Environmental Health and Safety Officer
   1. Each campus or institute must ensure that it has designated a full-time employee as the campus or institute’s environmental health and safety (EHS) officer. The applicable chief business officer is responsible for designating this role.
   2. The University’s System Administration unit will also designate a full-time employee to serve as the UT System Administration’s environmental health and safety officer. The University System’s Chief Financial Officer will make this designation.
   3. The applicable campus or institute’s chief business officer must ensure that they inform the University System’s environmental health and safety officer of the name and title of the campus or institute environmental health and safety officer.
   4. If a campus or institute maintains an environmental program or programs outside of EHS, the responsible department will maintain close coordination with EHS to ensure compliance with the respective laws, regulations, standards, etc.
3. Environmental Health and Safety Plan
   1. The applicable environmental health and safety officer must maintain an environmental health and safety plan that is specific to the applicable campus or institute.
   2. The procedures that are associated with this policy provide additional information related to creation of the environmental health and safety plan.
4. Specific Plan Requirements
   1. The UT System EHS officer and each campus or institute EHS officer will ensure that the systemwide EHS policies and procedures, and as applicable, campus-specific or institute-specific procedures, facilitate compliance with the categories listed below.
      1. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA);
      2. Fire and life safety;
      3. The Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office acts as the direct Authority Having Jurisdiction for UT System campuses or institutions. Each campus is responsible for designating a liaison to the State Fire Marshal’s Office. If the liaison is not affiliated with EHS, that person must maintain close coordination with EHS regarding fire safety issues.
      4. Each campus or institute must comply with the Campus Fire Safety Right- to-Know Act of 2007 and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, maintaining a record of all fires occurring in student housing located on campus or institution property.
      5. An Annual Fire Safety Report must be published as stipulated by these Acts. The Fire Safety Report may be combined with the Annual Security Report as required by the Jeanne Clery Act, which is typically published by the campus or institution law enforcement agency.
      6. Environmental protection: stewardship as promulgated by the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) and US Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.
      7. Hazardous materials safety.
      8. Ionizing radiation safety.
      9. Non-ionizing radiation safety.
      10. Biological safety and select agents.
      11. Protecting minors in laboratory spaces
5. Exceptions
   1. Where the University may issue exceptions that are compliant with applicable laws or regulations, the University System Chief Financial Officer is the University official who has authority to issue exceptions to systemwide Safety policies or procedures.
   2. Where a campus or institute has issued a more restrictive procedure under a systemwide Safety policy, the applicable chief business officer may issue an exception to the campus-specific or institute-specific procedure.

SECTION 2. Reason for the Policy

To establish a framework for the safety and environmental health program at the University of Tennessee system. Implementation of the program will provide a safe and healthful environment for University faculty, staff, students, and guests and maintain a climate conducive to the safe conduct of the University’s various missions.

SECTION 3. Scope and Application

This policy applies to all University employees.

SECTION 4. Procedures

SECTION 5. Definitions

EHS: Environmental Health and Safety

SECTION 6. Penalties/Disciplinary Action for Non-Compliance

In the event of any cited violation by federal, state, or local regulatory agencies, immediate notification and proposed remedy of the same shall be made to the respective campus, college, or institute safety administrator and/or responsible official as well as the University of Tennessee system safety officer.

SECTION 7. Responsible Official & Additional Contacts

Subject Matter	Office Name	Name of Contact	Phone Number	Email
Policy Official	UT System	Mike Gregory	865-974- 5028	Mike.gregory@tennessee.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Knoxville	Brian Ranger	865-974- 5084	branger@utk.edu

Policy Clarification	UT Chattanooga	Brett Fuchs	570-656- 3180	brett-fuchs@utc.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Southern	Dan Scherr and Richard Schoeberl	1-931- 363- 9871 1-931- 424- 2022	dscherr@utsouthern.edu rschoebe@utsouthern.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Martin	Charles Jahr	731-881- 7583	cjahr@utm.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Health Science Center	Tim Barton	901-448- 7374	tbarton4@uthsc.edu
Policy Clarification	Institute for Public Service	Tomi Rogers	803-466- 0787	tomi.rogers@tennessee.edu
Policy Clarification	UTIA	Steve Crouch	865-382- 2131	Scrouch4@utk.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Space Institute	Nick VanZandbergen	931-393- 7156	nvanzand@utsi.edu

SECTION 8. Policy History

Revision 1: July 1, 2010

Revision 2: July 1, 2011

Revision 3: July 1, 2012

Revision 4: July 1, 2013

Revision 5: July 1, 2014

Revision 5: July 1, 2015

Revision 6: July 1, 2016

Revision 7: July 1, 2017

Revision 8: July 1, 2025

SECTION 9. Related Policies/Guidance Documents

UT System Safety Intranet Site: https://liveutk.sharepoint.com/sites/UTSafety

SA0200 – Emergency Management