News

Updated UC Berkeley COVID-19 Training

UC Berkeley Guidelines on Protecting Workers from COVID-19

Cal/OSHA recently made its third and final revision to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard. The Campus COVID-19 Prevention Plan is being updated accordingly. The new ETS will go into effect on May 6 and will remain in effect through December 31, 2022.

Live Fire Extinguisher Training classes are available the first Thursday of each month. Sign up today! 

UC Berkeley continues to take critical steps to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the campus community. EH&S is offering surgical masks and N95s to employees. Please refer to the face coverings distribution schedule below or learn more about the current UC Berkeley mask requirements

Be Prepared to Help

First Aid Training Opportunity

A unique opportunity is available to gain First Aid knowledge through in-person classes with the Berkeley Medical Reserve Corps. The Berkeley Medical Reserve Corps is a volunteer-based unit of EMT-Bs on the UC Berkeley Campus. They are the first student-run Medical Reserve Corps on the West Coast and are currently sponsored by the UC Berkeley Office of Emergency Management.

The previously announced changes to mask guidelines are now in effect.

Effective Monday, March 7, 2022

Each year, law requires that the Cal/OSHA Annual Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Form 300A be posted in each department. The summary must be posted in a visible place, such as where notices to employees are displayed. Departments must have the summary posted through April 30, 2022.

Please work with your department(s) to ensure that this summary is appropriately posted.

Reuse & Disposal of Face Coverings

What happened?

A researcher was exposed to a 1 watt continuous wave beam from a Ti-Sapphire (852 nm) laser while visually inspecting a non-linear crystal on the optical table with a dielectric mirror. The researcher was unaware that the beam was present and it was directed into their right eye. The researcher was not wearing laser eye protection because they thought the laser was off.

Keeping EH&S Applications Secure

EH&S has implemented temporary security parameters to reduce vulnerabilities across our applications. In order to use EH&S applications, you will now need to either 

Institutional Review

• During this transition period toward full reopening of campus activities, please check the Return to Campus web page for updates. 
• Review and follow the VCRO’s COVID-19 Field Research Guidelines & Checklist.

If unvaccinated people need to work closer than 6-feet apart for lab work, training, maintenance or other activities with others, the following process needs to be applied:

Originally posted in UC Berkeley’s Response & Recovery Newsletter.

Response & Recovery, July 2, 2021 Issue

The return to campus section of the coronavirus site has been updated with new information regarding face coverings, meetings, physical distancing and more. Here are the highlights:

On March 31, 2021 Alameda County and the City of Berkeley transitioned to the Orange (“Moderate”) Tier in the State Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Given low rates of COVID-19 cases among on-campus researchers and rising availability of vaccines in the community, campus leadership has approved additional on-campus research access under a new Phase 4.

CAL FIRE Information Bulletin
Office of the State Fire Marshal
Issued: December 15, 2020

UC Berkeley researchers have developed a unique, easy, and effective method for testing the presence of the COVID-19 virus in the wastewater flowing through municipal sewer systems. 

Message for Radiation Use Authorization (RUA) holders and Lab Contacts, October 2020.

Effective immediately, the UC Learning Center will be used to deliver and document: 

• Training of RUA SOPs and the
• Radiological Hazards Awareness Training for Non-Users.  

Instructions for how users can access the SOP and non-user training are below.  Radiation Safety staff will work with you during your next survey to update the LMS for those users who have already signed off on SOP training or have completed their non-user training.

Click here to see the Campus Air Quality Map.

All EH&S web applications will be shut down for a system upgrade starting at 5 PM on Friday, Oct 2nd, 2020.

Why?

We’re implementing a new data model that will enable

• better integration with our systems and others
• easier, faster creation of new tools and features