Injury and Illness Prevention Program

Princeton University is committed to providing a safe and healthful environment for its employees, students and visitors and managing the University in an environmentally sensitive and responsible manner.

We further recognize an obligation to demonstrate safety and environmental leadership by maintaining the highest standards and serving as an example to our students as well as the community at large.  

Roles and Responsibilities

Responsible Executive – Executive Vice President Katie Callow-Wright

Program Administrator – Robin Izzo, Executive Director, EHS

Injury and illness prevention is everyone’s responsibility, as supervisors and workers play important roles in ensuring a safe and healthful workplace at Princeton University.

You can learn more about the specific responsibilities for managers, supervisors, and employees in the Princeton University Workplace Health and Safety Policies and Responsibilities.

Offices and Departments

The Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) provides leadership, technical support, information and training, consultation, and periodic audits of environmental, health and safety practices and regulatory compliance. Learn more about EHS » 

Occupational Health Services provides services to promote, protect and restore the employee’s health within the context of a safe and healthy work environment. Contact Employee Health for matters related to work-related injuries and illnesses. 

The Department of Public Safety works around the clock to maintain a safe atmosphere and to serve as a resource for students, faculty, staff and visitors.

The Department of Risk Management is responsible for the management of the University's Property and Casualty Insurance Program and the financial support of various employee benefit plans and the Student Health Plan. Contact Risk Management for questions regarding worker's compensation and long term disability claims. 

Compliance

Employees are responsible for complying with the applicable provisions of health and safety laws, standards and regulations, adherence to all University and departmental or office safety policies and procedures, and complying with safety directives issued by their individual supervisors.

When employees do not meet these standards, it is the supervisor's responsibility to act in a timely manner and initiate a program of disciplinary steps to address the problem, following the University Disciplinary Procedure.

Hazard Identification and Assessment

Periodic inspections are important tools for identifying and assessing workplace hazards.  Contact EHS if you want to establish a program for regular inspections of your work area

A Job Hazard Analysis or JHA is a process for breaking down a task or process into its component steps and then evaluating each step for hazards. Each hazard is then corrected or a method of worker protection (safe practice or PPE) is identified.

Additional requirements such as worker training, certification, authorization, or additional supervision may also be identified. While the analyses for some tasks are very detailed, for many tasks a thorough review of the operation or work plans by the affected people is usually sufficient. The final product of a JHA is a written document outlining the safe operation for a particular task or process.

Potential benefits of the Job Hazard Analysis process include:

  • Protection of employees
  • Reduction of injuries
  • Establishes performance standards
  • Standardizes operations based on acceptable safe practices and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • Provides training documentation regarding a worker's knowledge of the job requirements
  • Assists in compliance with regulatory requirements

For more information about conducting a Job Hazard Analysis, contact an EHS Staff member or visit this Job Hazard Analysis page on the EHS website.

Hazard Prevention and Control

EHS has established a number of programs for the prevention and control of hazards in the workplace.

Laboratory & Research

Workplace & Construction

 

Incident Reporting and Investigations

All work-related accidents, injuries, or near-misses must be reported to your supervisor before your work shift ends on the day you are injured.

Accidents occur when hazards escape detection during preventive measures, such as a job or process safety analysis, when hazards are not obvious, or as the result of combinations of circumstances that were difficult to foresee. A thorough accident investigation may identify previously overlooked physical, environmental, administrative, or process hazards, the need for new or more extensive safety training, or unsafe work practices.

While EHS has primary responsibility for investigation of most accidents or incidents occurring on campus, supervisors and managers are frequently aware of these incidents before EHS is notified and may be in the best position to gather early facts before the accident scene can be altered.  

Staff

Environmental Health and Safety
262 Alexander Street
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-258-5294