Infractions of Safety Policies

Procedures relating to personnel who fail to comply with lab safety rules.
This document is available in Acrobat format, as is the acknowledgment form.

Failure to Comply with Safety Rules

If any member of the lab is found in violation of JRML safety rules, procedures, or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as found on the Lab’s safety web site and in the Lab’s Control Room, the following steps shall be taken. [By "member of the lab" is meant anyone (faculty, visitor, staff, post-doc, grad. student, or undergraduate) who has been issued a key to the lab. If the violator is a guest of a member of the lab, then the procedures shall be applied to the host.]

Upon the first violation of a particular safety rule, procedure, or SOP, the guilty party will receive written notification of:

His/her violation of that rule, procedure, or SOP
A written description of the penalty for a repeat violation of that same rule procedure or SOP

The details of the violation will be placed in that person’s safety record file. At a minimum, the details will contain

A description of the infraction
The date of the infraction
Action taken because of the infraction
Any adverse consequences (such as injury to that person or anyone else) of the infraction

The guilty party will be placed on probation for 6 months. If no repetition of the same violation occurs during the probation period, the probation shall be lifted. However, the record of the infraction shall remain in that person’s safety record file. Upon the second violation of the same safety rule, procedure, or SOP during the probationary period, the guilty party will receive written notification of his/her violation, and will be summoned to appear before the Safety Committee to explain his/her actions. The violator will then be given a written description of the possible penalties for a further repetition of the violation. The details of the violation will be placed in the guilty party’s safety record file. (Details are as in the first violation.) The guilty party’s probation will be extended by 6 months from the time of the second infraction.

Upon the third violation of the safety rule, procedure, or SOP during the probationary period, the guilty party will receive written notification of his/her violation, and will be summoned to appear before the Safety Committee to explain his/her actions. The committee will then decide upon the appropriate punishment. Sanctions may include all or part of the following:

Banishment from the JRML for a period of time depending on the severity of the infraction.
Loss of pay during a period of time depending on the severity of the infraction.
Permanent dismissal from the lab.

The recommended punitive action will be forwarded to the JRML Director who will either choose to follow the committee recommendation, or implement his/her own punitive action.

In either case, details of the infraction will once again be placed in the guilty party’s safety file. Also placed in the file will be the recommended penalty, and the penalty actually applied by the JRML Director. The guilty party will be placed on a 1-year probation, starting from the time of the end of the imposed penalty period. At any time following any infraction of any safety rule, procedure, or SOP, the accused may appeal the decision of the Safety Committee. The safety committee will then form a separate appeals panel consisting of one (1) member of the Safety Committee, the JRML Director, and one other member consisting of another JRML member holding a position similar to the appealing personnel. The Appeal panel will hear the arguments of the accused and make its recommendation to the Safety Committee whether to dismiss the appeal or to dismiss the accusation. In the event the accusation is dismissed, details of that violation will be expunged from the file of the accused.

If the JRML member accused of a violation for a third time while still under probation is a member of the Safety Committee, then he/she may not sit in judgment of his/her offense, and a substitute (temporary) Safety Committee member will be selected by the Laboratory Director to take the place of the accused during proceedings outlined above.