During 2018-2019, the Department of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) is focused on a biosafety and biosecurity initiative to identify all buildings/rooms where critical freezers and refrigerators are located and quantify how many of those pieces of equipment are plugged into the emergency backup system. Understanding the true scale of refrigerator and freezer usage across campus will help insure we have the necessary infrastructure in existing backup generator power systems to support critical equipment in the event of localized or widespread power failures.
We ask that all principal investigators support this important initiative by:
- Completing this freezer survey.
- Ensuring all refrigerators and freezers are labeled with emergency contact details.
- Ensuring all refrigerators and freezers are plugged into emergency power outlets (red plugs).
- Having backup plans in place in the event a refrigerator/freezer goes down or becomes inoperable.
- Performing inventories of their refrigerators and freezers to identify all infectious agents and toxins therein, and have processes in place to ensure biohazards in their possession match with their Lab Safety Plans (LSPs)
Please contact the EHS Office at 919-962-5507 or via email at ibc@unc.edu with any questions or comments. Thank you for your commitment to promoting biosafety and biosecurity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Sincerely,
Garry Coulson
Biosafety Officer
garry.coulson@ehs.unc.edu
Doug Cyr
Institutional Biosafety Committee Chair
douglas_cyr@med.unc.eduÂ
Mary Beth Koza
Executive Director of Environment, Health and Safety
mbkoza@ehs.unc.edu