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Visit the UW Alert Blog and Snow Removal Progress Map (as appropriate) to check conditions before arriving on the Seattle campus.

EH&S has received reports of coyote sightings on the Seattle campus. Coyotes have been present at our campus locations and vicinity for years and they are an important part of our ecosystem.

Read the Coyotes on UW Campuses focus sheet for information on living and working around urban coyotes, preventing human-animal conflict, and reporting coyote activity our campuses.

Does your laboratory have volatile organic chemicals that produce strong, pungent odors even when the cap and bottle are intact? Controlling these smells, often found in chemical storage areas, will help reduce your risk of exposure.

Volatile organic chemicals can escape their containers, which presents an exposure risk to everyone in the lab. Restricting the ability for the chemical to disperse into the air can lower that risk.

EH&S Radiation Safety has resources and guidance for University laboratories to reduce the risk of exposures and injuries when using ultraviolet (UV) lights or equipment containing UV lights.

During National Biosafety Month in October, EH&S is encouraging labs working with biohazards to identify hazards that could be substituted with a safer alternative to reduce the potential for harm while performing the same function.

Examples of safer alternatives include: 

Incoming graduate students working in laboratories or other research spaces with hazards at any UW campus location are invited to attend the 2022 Graduate Student Safety Seminar. This seminar will orient the new researchers to the University’s safety requirements, procedures, and expectations.

EH&S’s Laboratory Safety Program now offers an interactive Chemical Hygiene Officer (CHO) Hands-On Training course for all CHOs at the UW.

When 9-1-1 is called on the UW Seattle campus, UW Police and Seattle Fire Department emergency vehicles will use designated fire lanes to get to the scene of the emergency quickly. It is critical that campus fire lanes are kept clear at all times to avoid emergency responders losing time getting to someone who needs help.

University departments and units that purchase commercial and industrial batteries now have a third option for recycling (or disposing of) used batteries. Options include: