Environmental Health & Safety
Message from the Director
Welcome to the home of the Environmental, Health and Safety Department. I want to wish you a happy, healthful, and safe experience at the University of South Dakota. It is our mission to protect our students, staff and faculty and prevent our work from causing harm to the environment. To that end, we are dedicated to the integration of safety and environmental compliance into our culture and our behavior.
As you explore the EHS web page, you will find a variety of tools to assist you in incorporating safety into your work and study. In addition, we offer personal services to assist with issues of laboratory safety, radiation safety, biosafety, laser safety, waste disposal, ergonomics, etc. If you do not find the information you are looking for here, please feel free to contact our office at 605.677.6265, or by email at ehs@usd.edu.
I look forward to working with you throughout your time at the University of South Dakota.Kevin O'Kelley, Director of EHS
Accidents and Injuries
Animal Use
The Animal Protection Program promotes the humane care of animals used in research and teaching at USD. Additional resources for faculty, staff, and students is available on the MyU portal Animal Protection Program page (login required).
Biosafety
The mission of the biosafety program is to provide assistance to the University community in assuring that research involving biological agents is conducted in a safe and responsible manner, and that these activities are in compliance with external regulations and applicable University policies.
Biological & Chemical Safety Manual
Institutional Biosafety Committee Manual
NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules
Biosafety in the Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratory (5th Edition)
Chemical and Laboratory Safety
Back to topHazardous Chemicals are used by many of the teaching and research labs at USD, as well as in maintenance and housekeeping operations.
Biological & Chemical Safety Manual
Material Safety Data Sheets (MyU login required)
Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories (Student Edition)
Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories (Teacher Edition)
NIOSH Laboratory Safety Guidance Manual
Chemical Safety Fact Sheets
Ammonia (ammonium hydroxide)
Ethidium Bromide Waste Disposal
Hydrofluoric Acid Medical Response
Laboratory Waste Disposal Guidelines
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Pre-Startup Safety Review (PSSR)
Sharps (including broken glass)
Occupational Safety
Back to topEmergency Preparedness and Response
Back to topEnvironmental Protection
Ergonomics
How to get an ergonomic evaluation of a workstation.
1st: Review the Information on A User Friendly Workstation and Personal Workstation Checklist.
2nd: Submit a request for a personal evaluation to ehs@usd.edu.
Human Subjects
The USD Office of Human Subjects Protection is dedicated to ensuring the rights, privacy, welfare, and safety of human subjects participating in research under the auspices of USD.
Material Safety Data Sheets
Material Safety Data Sheets (MyU login required)
Winter Safety
Driving Safety
Slips, Trips, and Falls
Laser Safety
Radiation Safety
Use of radioactive materials by faculty, staff, or students requires compliance with NRC and USD policies. Authorization and approval by the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO)is required for faculty. All persons working with radioactive material must receive training appropriate to their use and must be approved by the RSO. USD has a radioactive material license issued by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The license authorizes faculty, staff and students to use radioactive materials in research and teaching. This is a Type B license of broad scope which does not permit the use of radioactive materials in patients or human subjects.
Radionuclide fact sheets:
Standard Operating Procedures
Please use the SOP template below to write your laboratory-specific SOPs. All sections on the SOP template must be completed. Please refer to the corresponding Material Safety Data Sheet (insert link) to add important information on the SOPs per the manufacturer recommendations.
Alternatively, the University of California Los Angeles EHS Department has generated a great many SOP's for chemicals, and has made them freely available for use by other universities. You can customize these SOPs to match your laboratory operations. UCLA Chemical SOP Library