6.01 Environmental Health and Safety

The University of Georgia (UGA) community, including all stakeholders, has a long-standing commitment to provide a safe place to live, study, learn, conduct research, engage in public service and outreach activities, and work.

To this end, UGA is deeply committed to ensuring that the University community through all of its academic and research programs and operating units places paramount importance on safety, health, and protection of the environment.

All UGA faculty, staff and students are stakeholders and have shared responsibility and accountability to the University and to each other to ensure a safe learning, working, and research environment. UGA is committed to achieving a high standard of institutional accountability for environmental health and safety stewardship, while maintaining the independence necessary for world-class research and teaching. UGA will define the responsibilities of all stakeholders and hold each stakeholder accountable to those responsibilities and overall compliance with this policy and all associated policies.

UGA will be a leader in developing and implementing best practices in all areas relating to environmental health and safety.

Consistent with the Board of Regents Policy 9.12.4 titled “Environmental and Occupational Safety,” UGA will develop and maintain policies and procedures to govern activities to meet the goal of comprehensively integrating occupational safety and environmental considerations. To this end, through EHS Policy No. 6.02, UGA will develop, implement and maintain a Comprehensive Environmental Health and Safety Management System (“Comprehensive EHSMS”) that will govern how it manages all aspects of environmental health and safety. An EHSMS Executive Committee, reporting directly to the President, will have the responsibility and authority to oversee the Comprehensive EHSMS. EHS Policy No. 6.01 will be reviewed annually, and all changes must be approved by the President, upon recommendation of the EHSMS Executive Committee.

Approved by the President of the University of Georgia on April 14, 2016