Safety yields improved performance for ASU

ASU’s Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) Department has reported a significant improvement in the university’s overall safety performance in terms of preventing occupational injuries and illnesses.

In 2009, ASU registered 117 injuries, that is 50 fewer injuries compared to the average 167 per year for the past five years.

Workdays lost to injuries and illnesses also improved by 30 percent over the same five-year span. ASU registered 1,040 workdays lost last year, compared to the average 1,497 since 2004.

Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the standardized rate of injuries and illness to 100 employees, ASU achieved a 33 percent improvement over the five-year average of 1.46.

In contrast to other colleges, universities and professional schools, ASU’s injuries rate equals 0.81, while the national average stands at 2.6 injuries and illnesses.

EH&S attributes these significant improvements to three factors: the increase in manager and supervisor involvement in safety programs, heightened awareness of ASU community members to potential safety hazards, and improvements to EH&S programs related to incident investigation.

Employees are encouraged to stay current on all safety training by logging on to http://uabf.asu.edu/ehs_training.