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The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Program for individuals with live animal exposure is a required portion of ̽»¨ÊÓƵ’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) responsibilities. The federal Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) requires all institutions conducting animal research to provide occupational health and safety support for all of its animal researchers and staff. The OHS for Animal Researchers program at ̽»¨ÊÓƵ is designed primarily to detect and prevent animal-related health hazards and injuries associated with animal research-related activities. The requirementsÌýare based on the guidelines in the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

Our program uses a 3^rd Party Occupational Health Medical Provider to administer an Animal Personnel Occupational Health Screening as part of our onboarding program into all animal research related activities. The screening gives an opportunity for researchers to speak with a certified medical professional specializing in occupational medicine while also receiving any vaccination evaluations required to reduce health risks for their research programs. Please reach out to us at ehsohs@colorado.edu to start this process.

If you need to reschedule your appointment, you must do so more than 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment time, or you will be charged a missed appointment fee directly by the 3^rd party Occupational Health Provider. The ̽»¨ÊÓƵ OHS for Animal Researchers ProgramÌýwill not cover this fee if you fail to make your scheduled appointmentÌýor if you fail to reschedule with sufficient notice to the 3^rd party office.

Researchers onboarding into the program sign the appropriate HIPAA release forms with that medical provider, and the medical provider will then directly furnish us and the researcher with what is commonly called a Fit-for-Duty letter, while the OHS office doesn’t hold any of your personal medical records or information.

The primary method to reduce risk in any working environment is in having a thorough understanding of the specific health and safety concerns within labs or research programs, which are often unique based on the work/research being conducted. Please make sure to review any unique hazards, materials, training, and equipment in use in your lab!