Safety committees administration

The NTP Executive Committee contains members from ATSDR, CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), US-EPA, US-FDA (Food and Drug Administration), NCEH (National Center for Environmental Health)/CDC, NCI/NIH, NIH, NIOSH/CDC, and OSHA (Occupational Safety Health Administration). 

Pharmaceutical companies frequently establish a committee of senior management to authorise the first study of a NME in humans, the review and approval generally being a prerequisite for submission to the external lEC. However, as stated in Section 4.3.4, the clinician responsible for the first study in humans must be personally satisfied that the preclinical data, relating to efficacy and safety, justify administration to man. A useful test is for the physician and other responsible personnel to ask themselves Would 1 be prepared to volunteer for this study and would 1 be happy for a loved-one to do so ... 

Recognizing that external pressures are forcing academic Chemistry departments to abandon their traditional relaxed attitudes toward safety, we have attempted to construct the safest building possible with the available funds. This alone will not guarantee accident- and hazard-free operation, however. The faculty, administration and staff must support and encourage safe practices. In this spirit, the University in 1977 established a campus-wide safety committee to assist and advise departments and the various support services when questions on safety arise. 

Progress in drug delivery systems and new proteins/ peptides being developed for parenteral administration has created a need to expand the list of excipients that can be safely used. An informational chapter included in the USP 24, presents a scientifically based approach for safety assessment of new pharmaceutical excipi-ents.f This chapter is based on the excipient safety evaluation guidelines prepared by The Safety Committee of the International Pharmaceutical Excipient Council, with appropriate reaction. Table 14 summarizes the approach in developing a new excipient. 

The depth of current concern for definition and control of the indoor air quality problem is shown by the number of federal agencies that are involved in evaluating and regulating this area in the USA alone. The 16 agencies that form the Interagency Committee for Indoor Air Quality in the US(11) include the Environmental Protection Agency, (Co-chair), Department of Energy, (Co-chair), Department of Health and Human Services, (Co-chair), Consumer Product Safety Committee, (Co-chair), Bonneville Power Administration, Department of Defense, Federal Trade Commission... 

The most frequently reported systemic adverse events were hypertension, arthritis, urinary tract infection, and hypercholesterolemia. Of the 36 patients reporting a serious adverse event, 11 exited the study for that reason. Serious adverse events were reported by 23 of the 98 anecortave acetate-treated patients and 13 of the 30 placebo-treated patients. Five deaths from lung carcinoma, heart failure/ cerebrovascular accident, accidental injury, or myocardial infarction were reported. However, none of these serious adverse events or deaths was assessed as related to study treatment. An independent safety committee concluded that there were no clinically relevant medication-related or administration-related safety concerns. 

Becauseoftheindependenceofthe various divisions,orschools,in largerorganizations, the separate internal administrative units may find it desirable to establish their own safety committees. The unit committees would adapt the overall institutional safety policies which must be followed in the context of their own operations and areas of responsibility. It would probably be desirable to identify an individual as the division chemical hygiene officer to act as liaison with the individual representing the central authority. This position is not required, however, for a subunit (other than the laboratory) of an organization under the OSHA laboratory standard. 

The chain of command both for operations and for safety of nuclear facilities is the same. The safety chain has provisions for advisory safety committees. This group is comprised of persons who are knowledgeable of both the operational and administrative requirements for hot cell operations. The chairman and the majority of the committee are not directly associated with HCF operations. The safety committees act in an advisory capacity to line management. 

To accommodate HCF experimental capabilities, a defined process for the preparation, review, and approval of experiments is established as an important element of facility safety. Experiment control is exercised through a system of administrative procedures that are applied to classify experiments into three broad categories (Class I, II, or III) in accordance with the RCSC charter. In addition, all experiments must be conducted in accordance with the approved Technical Safety Requirements, and potential consequences of conducting the experiment must be bounded by the safety analysis in Chapter 3 of this SAR. Proposed experiments that would exceed either of these constraints must be submitted to the SNL Nuclear Facilities Safety Committee (NFSC) and to DOE/AL for review and approval. 

The local Joint Health and Safety Committee may he required to travel to vendors, plants, or other locations to participate in a Design Review of such equipment or processes as outlined in the Design for Health and Safety Specification. Machinery, equipment or processes wiU not he released for production without the written approval of the Plant Safety Administrator. 

Safety committees or safety teams that are in place at a school can also be efficient ways to identify ergonomic issues in the workplace. If a process is already in place for a safety team or committee, take the time to train these people in how to identify ergonomic issues. Faculty and staff may be more apt to talk to a fellow coworker on a safety committee or safety improvement team than to go to the school administration with a safety issue. Talking to the employees and getting their input is invaluable when identifying ergonomic issues. 

Ad-hoc committees are formed to complete specific projects and are limited to a specific time frame. One of the concerns that has been expressed about safety committees is that a number of employees do not want to become involved in committees that are long term. However, as projects are developed by the central safety committee, short-term projects appeal to different employees having different expertise and experience. Some employees may like the central committee, where they can use their skills in administration and organizing. Other employees may join an ad-hoc committee on a topic of interest. 

Hold regular meetings and provide written documentation of meeting minutes to the JHA process administrator on the central safety committee. 

The policies delineated in the handbooks were developed by consensus of a campus safety and health committee, facilitated by the Director of Environmental Health and Safety and represent one part of the administrative scope of the EH S Center program. The policies also outline the University safety committee structure, EH S Center authority, and the other elements necessary to provide administrative support to the EH S programs. 

For unit-level safety committees, an individual having an administrative function or a supervisory position should chair the committee. This is to give the committee chair the necessary authority and provide status to the committee from the viewpoint of unit staff. 

Reactor Restart Division Administrative Manual, RDP 2.04, Rev. 0, "Reactor Operations Safety Committee," July 28, 1990. 

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