Research Insights

UGA’s Office of Research Safety (ORS) has adopted a new software for its Chemical Safety Plan (CSP) program that will streamline submission of CSPs for investigators and lab managers across campus. Called ChemSafeUGA, the new platform links to outside databases that make it easier for lab personnel to keep their CSPs up to date with information on chemicals and substances and their respective hazard categories, current rosters of lab employees, and building/location information.

The CSP program affects more than 500 investigators spread among 1,200 labs at UGA. Each lab is required to submit a CSP, which helps both employees and ORS to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place for storage, handling, usage and spill response of hazardous chemicals and waste products. CSP is part of UGA’s wider Environmental Health and Safety Management System.

Among ChemSafeUGA’s improvements are:

· Automatically linking a lab’s chemical inventory into hazard categories as defined by Chematix, and lists Particularly Hazardous Substances (PHS) for investigator and lab staff awareness.

· Connection to HR, Student Affairs and Facilities Management Division databases to streamline entry of laboratory staff and locations into the CSP.

· Connection to UGA Professional Education Portal to streamline reporting of training progress by lab personnel.

With the adoption of ChemSafeUGA, lab managers no longer will need to obtain personnel MyIDs to complete their CSPs, nor will they need to track down information about the training requirements for those personnel.

ChemSafeUGA was developed by the Office of Research Information Technology group in close consultation with UGA’s Research Safety Committee. ORS will roll the new system out during spring 2024 as it builds its calendar for lab safety inspections, reporting its progress and compliance back to the committee during the rollout.

If you have questions about ChemSafeUGA, contact ORS Director Zeke Barrera at 542-9373 or ebarr@uga.edu.