Health, Safety, and Environment

Visit the Health, Safety, & Environment website.

Sponsored Training Opportunities

HSE sponsors a variety of instructor-led and online training course options and dates.
(http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hse/training/#Instructor)

Don't Press your Luck and Get Stuck!

Incident-free is the way to be, but let's face it, stuff happens. So, don't press your luck and get stuck by improperly handling sharps in the lab or clinical setting. It is imperative that all members of the Johns Hopkins Institutions (faculty, staff, students, and visitors) adhere to the appropriate Guidelines for safe handling of Sharps.

Sharps are any material that can puncture or cut human skin (such as syringes with needles, needles alone, small glass objects, Pasteur pipettes, and razor blades). ALL sharps must be discarded into an approved sharps container. Needles and other sharps are never to be discarded directly into a red bag, red bag-lined biohazard box, or into other waste streams.

All needles and sharps must be discarded directly into approved sharps containers. Containers for the disposal of sharps shall be limited to those approved by the Joint Committee for Health, Safety, and Environment. All sharps containers must be appropriately sealed prior to disposal to prevent spillage.

Guidelines for the safe handling of sharps:

1. Sharps are never to be discarded directly into the regular trash.
   
2. Needles are not to be clipped or bent.
   
3. Needles are not to be recapped by a "two-handed method".
   
4. The user shall be responsible for proper sharps disposal. Sharps shall not be left on furniture, equipment, or counter tops.
   
5. Sharps should never be carried in pockets. Needles used at a distance from a disposal container shall be transported safely to the disposal area by using a puncture-resistant basin, or similar container.
   
6. Disposal containers shall not be overfilled. Filled containers shall be properly sealed and disposed of in receptacles lined with a red bag.
   
7. Sharps disposal containers are puncture resistant, NOT puncture proof. Filled containers are to be handled with caution' sharps may penetrate under certain conditions.

For more information regarding the policy on Laboratory Waste Disposal and Sharp's Safety from the department of Health Safety and Environment please visit: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hse. To find a policy, visit the HSE Policies page.


BioRAFT Chemical Registry

Principal Investigators, please remember to complete the initial lab registration in BioRAFT. BioRAFT is an online, 24/7 accessible, software package that is being deployed to serve as the chemical registry for laboratory spaces located on the campuses of Johns Hopkins. Completion of the lab registration in BioRAFT will be reviewed as part of the annual departmental safety survey.

To access BioRAFT, please go to: https://jhu.bioraft.com. After logging in using your JHED ID, the General Setup Wizard will guide you through the lab set-up.

We greatly appreciate your assistance with this project


Johns Hopkins 2020-21 Flu Campaign

Onsite Schedules & Locations | Walgreens | Vaccinations & Exceptions | Policy

Flu vaccine for Johns Hopkins employees is here! The inactivated influenza vaccine (injectable) will be administered to Hopkins employees beginning September 21, 2020. (Please see locations & schedules below).

The Johns Hopkins Institutions require health care providers to have annual influenza vaccination or possess an approved qualified exception. Please review the Mandatory Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Policy (HSE048) for more information.

The Influenza vaccine will be administered to Physicians, Faculty, Staff, Employees, Students and Volunteers by Occupational Health Services as listed below.

Johns Hopkins will be partnering with Walgreens during the 2020-21 flu season. Walgreens pharmacists will be giving our employees the flu vaccine, both on-site and at all Walgreens retail locations. Both of these options will begin on Monday, September 21, 2020.

Important Things To Know:

• Onsite Vaccinations - To comply with physical distancing guidelines, you must make an appointment to receive your flu vaccine.

• Walgreens Vaccinations - You must either print out a voucher (JHED ID & PW required) or display the voucher on your phone at the time of service to receive the vaccine at Walgreens. Please note, use Chrome, Safari or Firefox browser to open voucher. No appointments necessary, walk-ins available. If vaccinated with a voucher, you do not need to submit proof of vaccination. If vaccinated at Walgreens without a voucher (i.e. using insurance), proof of immunization must be provided to Occupational Health Services to receive credit for the vaccination.

• Onsite & Walgreens Vaccinations - To help expedite your visit, please fill out the vaccination form prior to your appointment, have a valid Hopkins ID/badge and bring both with you.

• Vaccinated Outside - If vaccinated outside (i.e. Primary Care, CVS, Safeway, etc.) of Johns Hopkins, a proof of immunization must be provided to Occupational Health Services to receive credit for the vaccination.

• Vaccinated Outside - For the East Baltimore Campus, Flu Clips are available at the Employee Health and Wellness Clinic (EHWC) located in the Phipps Building, 3rd floor, Monday - Friday, 8am-3pm. For all other campuses, please call or email your Occupational Health Services office for flu clip locations. You must provide proof of receiving your vaccine or already used the self-submit online tool. If you received your vaccine at Walgreens, please wait until you receive the email confirmation or bring your receipt from the store.

Have questions about the mandatory flu vaccination policy? Read these FAQs

Hopkins Onsite Vaccination Schedules & Locations

• East Baltimore Campus Locations
  
• Homewood Campus & Other Sites
  
• JHOP Pharmacies (Outpatient)
  
  

Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) policies:
The United States Government's Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) went into effect on September 24, 2015. DURC is defined by the federal government as:

"life research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security."

In the federal policy's current form, there are 15 agents (microbial entities and toxins) that fall under institutional DURC oversight. The current list of 15 agents as well as a list of 7 categories of experiments or experimental effects that would constitute DURC may be found at this website: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hse/ire/regulations.html. Questions regarding DURC should be directed to the Biosafety Office at biosafety@jhu.edu or ire@jhu.edu.

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