Showcasing Environmental Health and Safety Activities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Emergency preparedness is not a novel topic. What has been novel is the fast pace at which organizations, including academic institutions, have had to adapt to infectious disease outbreaks since 2000.

The goal of this article is to highlight the various environmental health and safety (EHS) team activities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to ensure that on-site personnel was safe, the research could be conducted, and critical business operations such as academics, laboratory animal care, environmental compliance, and routine healthcare functions could continue during the pandemic.

The response framework is presented by discussing first the lessons learned in preparedness and emergency response during outbreaks that occurred since 2000, namely Influenza virus, Zika virus, and Ebola virus. Then, how the response to the COVID-19 pandemic was activated, and the effects of ramping down research and business activities.

Next, the contributions of each EHS unit are presented, namely, environmental, industrial hygiene and occupational safety, research safety and biosafety, radiation safety, supporting healthcare activities, disinfection, and communications and training.

Lastly, a few lessons learned are shared with the reader for moving toward normalcy.