Environmental health and safety in the academic setting

The academic institution can be viewed as a community within a community, with many environmental concerns similar to those of a municipality: private water supplies, housing, food sanitation, injury control, occupational health, radiation protection, waste control, etc. The complexity of a university environmental health and safety (EHS) program is closely related to the size of the college or university, and the type of program carried on by the institution (e.g., teaching hospital, agrigultural experiment stations, amount and variety of research programs). This paper seeks to convey information about environmental health and safety programs in colleges and universities which will be of help to environmental regulatory agencies as they interact with academic institutions. Understanding internal organizations and policy matters will make environmental regulatory agencies more effective as they interact with academic institutions. The extent of regulatory change now impacting on academic institutions is also discussed.