Laboratory Emergency Response

In Case of Emergency: Call UVM Police at 911

For advice or assistance when you're not sure if the situation is an emergency,
call UVM Police at 656-3473.

If the situation is not an emergency, but you want to talk to Environmental Safety staff as soon as possible, call 656-2560, select option1 and ask that we be paged.

Emergencies are situations where there is a threat of a fire, life-threatening situations, or unexplained symptoms associated with an odor.

To evacuate a building in case of an emergency (of any nature), pull the fire alarm, leave the building and then call 911. Anyone who determines, in good faith, that an emergency is in progress is authorized to activate a building fire alarm.

6 Steps of Laboratory Emergency Response at UVM:

1. Know the hazards of materials in your laboratory and manage them prudently.

• Refer to The UVM Laboratory Chemical Safety Management System Self Inspection Cards and incorporate these guidelines into your daily routine.

2. Recognize an Emergency Situation and act on it within 3 minutes or research shows you’re not likely to act.

• Turns out that human beings really don’t want to know that something bad is happening, so pay attention to what your co-workers and laboratory community members are doing, including being alert for unusual situations. Call for help if you aren’t sure what to do. Call UVM Police at 911 or use their non emergency number of 656-3473 to get assistance.

3. Protect yourself first and then other people.

• This is the heart of emergency response. It sounds simple but emergency situations, by their nature, usually surprise us while we are busy with other things. Just as with oxygen masks on an airplane, though, it is important that you take the necessary steps to protect yourself first so that you are able to do what it may take to protect others.

4. When the event is under control, assess the situation for clean-up.

• Determine if the situation can be managed or cleaned up by yourself or with your co-workers with supplies and personal protective equipment you have available or if you need outside assistance. Please call ES staff for advice if needed.

5. Arrange for clean-up, either by yourself or with help from ES staff.

• If you do not have all necessary materials or knowledge for clean up please call Service Operations at 656-2560 and ask them to page Environmental Safety staff.

6. Plan for recovery from the emergency.

• This may include reviewing how the incident was handled with your entire staff and deciding what, if anything, could have be handled differently, providing additional training, dealing with lost research materials, equipment, or time, and putting a plan into place to prevent this or a similar incident from happening again.

The complete plan for large scale emergencies at UVM is available here.

Last Updated: January 9, 2009