Dartmouth University's chemical safety program aims to abide by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Hazard Communication Standard, as well as the Laboratory Standard and the Environmental Protection Agency requirements regarding chemical safety and waste to ensure the safety of their laboratories. Dartmouth's chemical safety program involves regular compliance inspections, written procedures and policies, and emergency response. The University of Minnesota provides students with a Hazardous Chemical Waste Management Guidebook that provides emergency phone numbers and information on what to do in the case of certain chemical emergencies. Boston College, for example, has a waste management program that inspects the discarding of waste streams from facilities, laboratories and residences. It also administers chemicals, oils, paint, and pesticides in the college.
Biological safety in colleges deals with the adequate disposal of biological waste, such as dissected animals. Biology labs in colleges ensure clean disposal of such wastes supplemented by the autoclaving of equipment that directly touched dissected organisms. An autoclave is an instrument that sterilizes equipment under high pressurized saturated steam. Biology departments also need to consider safe shipping of possibly hazardous materials.
College campuses have systems of reporting emergencies that occur, usually in the form of an emergency phone line that goes to the campus police. Individual colleges need to plan for natural disasters according to their individual locations. For example, a college in Florida would need to have a solid hurricane plan, whereas a school in Ohio would need a tornado plan. All colleges must have fire evacuation plans, and all of the above plans must be made known to all college students and faculty members. According to the National Fire Protection Agency, between 2003 and 2006, American fire departments nation-wide responded to about 3,570 fires in dormitories, sororities, and fraternities.
Ergonomics is the study of your efficiency in your physical work environment. College students are often slumped over books or hunched over computer keyboards. Stanford University has an ergonomics program that advises you how to work in more comfortable, healthy postures to improve your overall health and help you avoid stiffness. For example, it teaches you how to sit properly at a computer and how to lift and carry heavy equipment. The University of Minnesota offers its students and faculty a free workstation self assessment and evaluation, a tool which monitors your repetitive motions involving keyboard use.