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. 2023 Mar 1;28(1):22-31.
doi: 10.1089/apb.2022.0026. Epub 2023 Mar 6.

Showcasing Environmental Health and Safety Activities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Tiffany Dothard  1 , George Golston  1 , Esmeralda Meyer  1 , Cyndi Palfrey  1 , Jeffrey Rasmituth  1 , Kalpana Rengarajan  1 , Kimberly Richards  1 , Robin Ruthenborg  1 , Samuel Shartar  2 , Scott W Thomaston  1 , Carol J Wilkins-Hall  1
Affiliations

Showcasing Environmental Health and Safety Activities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Tiffany Dothard et al. Appl Biosaf. .

Abstract

Introduction: Emergency preparedness is not a novel topic. What has been novel is the fast pace at which organizations, including academic institutions, have had to adapt to infectious disease outbreaks since 2000.

Objective: The goal of this article is to highlight the various environmental health and safety (EHS) team activities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to ensure that on-site personnel was safe, the research could be conducted, and critical business operations such as academics, laboratory animal care, environmental compliance, and routine healthcare functions could continue during the pandemic.

Methods: The response framework is presented by discussing first the lessons learned in preparedness and emergency response during outbreaks that occurred since 2000, namely Influenza virus, Zika virus, and Ebola virus. Then, how the response to the COVID-19 pandemic was activated, and the effects of ramping down research and business activities.

Results: Next, the contributions of each EHS unit are presented, namely, environmental, industrial hygiene and occupational safety, research safety and biosafety, radiation safety, supporting healthcare activities, disinfection, and communications and training.

Discussion: Lastly, a few lessons learned are shared with the reader for moving toward normalcy.

Keywords: COVID-19; academia; emergency response; environmental health and safety; risk assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Emory University EHSO interacted with key units and departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; EHSO, Environmental Health and Safety Office.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Activities conducted by the EHS team between March 2020 and June 2021. Text in gold refers to COVID-19 specific activities; text in gray involves COVID-19 and regular business operations activities. This figure was presented in Poster #14 during the ABSA International Conference in October 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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