New Principal Investigators
Welcome to Louisiana State University.
We are happy to have you join our faculty and enrich the world around you! The EHS mission is to provide the resources you need to safely launch your research program.
In this packet, you will find a brief overview of several of the resources available to you. View detailed information on the EHS Website.
While the transition to a new lab, facility, city, state or even country can often be tumultuous and difficult, we aim to make this portion of the process as smooth and stress-free as possible. Please reach out to us with any questions or concerns you may have.
Best of luck with your research pursuits!
EHS Research Safety Group
225-578-5640
When an injury occurs, the first priority is taking care of immediate medical needs. For emergencies, call LSU Police at 225-578-3231
All incidents that result in injury must be reported to Workers’ Compensation through the Office of Risk Management. The link below goes to the reporting form. Use it to report all incidents that resulted in an injury or had the potential to cause an injury to an LSU employee or injury to others on University property or at a University activity or event.
Biological Safety is the discipline addressing the safe handling and containment of infectious microorganisms and hazardous biological materials. At Louisiana State University, the safe handling of pathogenic organisms, hazardous biological materials, and toxins is directed by risk assessment, the application of prudent laboratory practices, and federal guidance and regulations.
The Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS)-Biological Safety Section is committed to providing on-going support and expertise regarding the recognition, assessment, and control of biological hazards. We provide a wide range of support services, from consultation to training, with the goal of ensuring the safest laboratory environment for all Louisiana State University faculty, staff, students, and the surrounding community.
Chemical Safety is the discipline addressing the safe handling and storage of chemicals. The Chemical Hygiene Plan describes the safe and proper use, handling practices, and procedures to be followed by personnel working in University laboratories. These items are necessary to protect personnel from potential health and physical hazards presented by chemicals used in the workplace, and to keep chemical exposures below specified limits.
As the Flagship institution of the state, the vision of Louisiana State University is to be a leading research-extensive university, challenging undergraduate and graduate students to achieve the highest levels of intellectual and personal development. The goal of Laboratory Safety is to support the achievement of this vision in a safe manner. In the following sections, we outline basic research laboratory safety principles: Law and Regulations, Standard Operating Procedures, Safety Data Sheets, Laboratory Assessment, Audits and Accreditation, Training, Fume Hoods, and Laboratory Close-Out Procedures.
The LSU web based training package for laboratory safety works in conjunction with the EHS Assistant (environmental management database) to meet the regulatory based training requirements. The assigned training and due dates can be seen by PI’s from the main EHS Assistant Screen. E-mail reminders are sent out on a monthly basis for both upcoming and past due training.
The Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is responsible for management of LSU’s Hazardous Waste Program. EHS has a long history of helping the LSU community with waste disposal. EHS collects waste and ensures its disposal in a safe and regulatory compliant manner.
EHS provides the Environmental Health Safety Assistant (EHSA). The EHS Assistant is an environmental management database that is available online to researchers and staff within the LSU community. EHSA is user friendly and web based. EHSA facilitates advanced tasks. These tasks include managing chemical inventories, registering a laboratory or chemical storage space, new project review, generating door signs, laboratory hazard assessment, requesting a waste pick-up, and responding to inspections. To perform these advanced tasks, lab personal have to access the EHSA system.
Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine (DLAM) serves as a central administration division for the operation of two research animal holding facilities. These facilities include the SVM Laboratory Animal Medicine Facility as well as the Life Sciences Animal Care Facility.
DLAM purchases, maintains, and cares for all teaching and research animals housed within these two facilities. The animal care facilities, equipment, and program are accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International.
DLAM objective is to maintain a fully accredited animal care program that supports teaching, research, and service.
The use of laboratory animals in teaching and research is a fundamental necessity of continued progress in the biomedical sciences. Such use of animals constitutes a special privilege to the scientific community. Therefore, it is incumbent upon each investigator and every member of their staff to fulfill all ethical as well as legal responsibilities. Therein lies much of the hope for continued medical progress for the benefit of animals as well as humanity.
The Radiation Safety Office (RSO), a research compliance unit under the direction of the Radiation Safety Committee (RSC), provides research guidance and regulatory-mandated support of academic activities involving the use of sources of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation at LSU.
All LSU research or clinic projects using, storing and disposing of all pharmaceutical products and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Controlled Substances in Research must abide by all Federal and State laws and University policies. Each PI is responsible for completing their own DEA application. Even if a delegate is chosen for maintaining all the paperwork involved, the PI is responsible for use, handling, storage and disposal.