Environmental Health and Lab Safety

MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is committed to maintaining a safe environment by working cooperatively with the MIT Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Office. The MIT EHS Office is responsible for the management and delivery of services that promote environmentally responsible practices at MIT, reduce MIT’s impact on the environment, and protect the health and safety of the community at the operational level.

EHS Training

(Prepared by Stephen Rudolph)

Before gaining access to your lab and start working, you must register and receive all training required for the lab. MIT’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) office manages training through the Atlas Learning Center. Follow the instructions below to register and complete your required training.

Go to the MIT Atlas Learning Center. (Certificates are needed to access the Learning Center)
Select My Profile (upper right).
Select Create EHS Profile if you are new or UpdatePI/Activities if you are returning.
If the PI responsible for the lab you will be using is not listed as your PI, select your PI.
Click Continue.
From the list, select the activities that you will be involved with in the lab. As a minimum, select Use potentially hazardous chemicals in a laboratory.If your lab is rated for biohazards (BL1 or BL2) select Use biological materials requiring BL1 or BL2 containment. Suggested activities based on the PI you selected will be highlighted. Select the activities specified by your EHS Representative. Additional selections will give you additional training requirements so only select those that apply to you.
Click Submit.
Select My Training Needs.
Complete your required training before working in the lab.

Note: if you will also be using the lab of another PI, go back and select that PI as well (the system will allow you to select multiple PIs).

Below is a typical list of requirements if only Use potentially hazardous chemicals is selected.

Note: not all training requirements are fulfilled in same manner; follow the instructions below in CompletionMethod. Web-based training completed through the LearningCenter should be credited immediately. In-person, digitally signed, and classroom training may take a few days to be credited.

Course	Description	Completion Method
EHS00100	General Chemical Hygiene	Web-based throughLearning Center
EHS00501	Managing Hazardous Waste	Web-based throughLearning Center
EHS00111	Review of Department Chemical Hygiene Plan Researchers and lab supervisors must read the Chemical Hygiene Plan and sign the acknowledgment page certifying that they have read it.	Complete this online acknowledgment form after reading the plan.
EHS00110	Lab Specific Chem. Hygiene Training	Training is provided in person by the EHS Representative of your lab

If you selected biohazards you will also have the following training requirement

EHS00260

General Biosafety for Researchers

Web-based throughLearning Center

Depending on the requirements generated by your Training Needs Assessment; you may need to undergo some department-specific training. If you have any questions, please contact either your EHS representative or our EHS Coordinator, Glen de Vera.

Laboratory Access

Laboratory access is tied to the completion of all required safety trainings. Once these trainings are accomplished, access may be granted after your EHS representative submits your signed lab-specific training document confirming that all relevant risk assessments have been reviewed and understood. Upon fulfillment of these requirements, access can be requested by emailing cee-lab-access@mit.edu

Useful EHS Links

EHS Representative Tools

EHS Representative Orientation

EHS Representatives should attend EHS0760c-A: EHS Representative Orientation.

EHS Representative Notebook

EHS on Atlas
Space registration, training reconciliation, inspections and training reports.

Training Reports
EHS reps can run a principal investigator (PI) training report by choosing Report 3: Report on all registered users under a PI or supervisor.

Level I Inspection Checklist: completed weekly, no record needed.
Level II Inspection Checklist: completed twice annually by EHS team.