Safety Mission Statement

Within MRI we recognize the importance of our people and the diverse work they accomplish.  The safety of employees, visitors, and the environment is everyone's first and greatest responsibility.  MRI Management supports a workplace where safety is a core value of all operations and expects that safe work practices will be followed at all times.  The MRI safety culture is one that proactively strives to identify and address safety concerns before they result in a loss event.

MRI is committed through management leadership and employee participation to:

  • Creating and maintaining a safe and healthful workplace.
  • Continuously improving our safety program and performance.
  • Complying with all applicable occupation safety and health laws, regulations, and University policies.
  • Integrating safety into all laboratory and shop activities.
  • Maintaining a Safety Committee that meets regularly and has MRI's support in implementing corrective actions and safety initiatives.
  • Providing resources and training to employees and visitors so all are aware of MRI's safety policies.

Maintaining a safe work environment is a top priority of MRI leadership and must be a goal of all MRI personnel. All employees that work in MRI will make safety an integral part of their activities.  The Safety Committee encourages and is open to recommendations to improve safety and health conditions.  MRI's commitment is to support a safety culture of mutual responsibility and to operate safely and communicate effectively.  The goal is always to improve the organization through the creativity of our personnel working in a safety-centered building.

Introduction

Here at MRI, we treat safety as a value and not a priority since priorities can change.  We Are a diverse group of over 1,500 researches that tackles numerous research thrusts that ultimately leads us to encounter a wide variety of different hazards and challenges.  The development of a safety mindset brings added opportunity when entering the workforce.  The MRI Safety Committee is here to help and find ways to empower your research in a safe manner.  At any point in time, you as a researcher should be able to stop work and ask, "why is this safe?"  If no one can explain why what you're doing is safe, then ALL work should stop until that question is answered.  The MRI has many avenues to help with safety related questions and assistance. This includes asking the MRI safety officers, MRI Safety Committee or your lab manager/PI for the lab you are working in.  We Are all dedicated to the mission of safety and look forward to helping you be successful researchers.

Purpose

The MRI Safety Committee's purpose is to promote safety culture in the institute; making it our goal to have zero work related injuries and illnesses.  A large focus of building safety culture includes education and training laboratory managers and researchers on safe work practices.  We use periodic laboratory manager meetings, labs out-of-a-had audits, and near-miss/learning experience reports to continuously improve our safety program.  We work to maintain open lines of communication between researchers, PI's (Principle Investigators) and the MRI Safety Committee to address issues that may arise.

MRI Safety Policy

The MRI Safety works to set guidelines and stress safety in its lab for all lab users and building occupants. Therefore, MRI has established the following policy regarding safety violations.

Class I Violation

Occurs when someone is working in such a way that risks his/her own safety but not the safety of other users or staff of the facility. These violations typically occur in several different categories.

Safety: Lab Attire/PPE and Chemical

Safety: Unsafe Practice/Training and Lab Etiquette

  • The user is issued a warning.
  • First time violation - a consequence analysis worksheet must be completed.
    • Note* If not completed within 1 week of the violation, lab access will be removed until the worksheet is complete.
  • Second time repeat violation - a consequence analysis worksheet must be completed.
    • Advisor/Supervisor is notified via email of repeat violation.
    • Note* If not completed within 1 week of violation, lab access will be removed until the worksheet is completed.
  • Third time repeat violation- All of the above occurs and automatically becomes a Class II Violation.
    • See Class II Violation consequences.

Note* If there are multiple class I violations that occur at one time, each violation will be treated as a first offense unless it crosses three different violation categories or directly puts others at risk.

Class II Violation

Someone is working in such a way that he/she puts the safety of other users at risk. Or there have been 3 repeat Class I Violations.

  • The user is notified and an email detailing the issues will be sent to user and user’s PI (Principal Investigator).
  • Meeting scheduled with PI/supervisor and user to determine why this occurred and how to prevent it in the future. Meeting must be attended by person who is receiving violation, PI/supervisor and at least one member of the MRI safety committee or User Facility safety representative.
  • Lab access immediately revoked until:
    • Repeat initial EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) safety training.
    • Repeat user facility safety training and tool training if applicable.
    • Complete Consequence Analysis worksheet.
    • Fix the problem or procedure if applicable (such as write Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), fix SOP, obtain proper training on tool etc.).