Bylaw of the Supervision of Safety and Health of Laboratory Areas in National Central University

Article 1: (The purpose and basis)

For the faculty, staffs and students of the university to carry out the safety and health management of laboratory areas, and according to the tenth article of “Bylaw of Labor's Safety Health Management and Automatic Inspection” of the council of Labor Affairs and the fifth article of  “Bylaw of the Supervision of Safety and Health in Schools' Laboratory Areas” of the Ministry of Education, this bylaw is stipulated.

Article 2: (Definitions of special terms)

The definitions of special terms included in the bylaw:

  1. Laboratorial areas: Laboratorial areas include all the laboratories and training factories under every college, research center, department, and graduate institute.
  2. Faculty, staffs and students: All personnel employed with pay within the areas indicated in the bylaw. These include the faculty, hired personnel for research plans, graduate students who receive payment, and work-study students.
  3. Student trainees: All those who are educated and guided within the areas indicated in the bylaw, and who do not receive payment.
  4. Disasters and accidents: Referring to disasters and accidents which make the faculty, staffs, students and student trainees become infected with disease, injured, disabled, or die because of the buildings, equipment, raw material, materials, chemicals, gases, vapors, dust, radiations, or the operations within the areas indicated in the bylaw.
  5. Dangerous substances: Referring to all the substances indicated in “Regulations of dangerous and hazardous materials”.
  6. Responsible personnel of unit: Referring to the unit director in charge of the supervision of laboratory areas.
  7. Responsible personnel of laboratory: Referring to the person in charge of the safety and health management of laboratorial area. In the case of personal laboratories of teachers, the personnel in charge would be the teacher, and in laboratorial areas which are shared inside the unit, the personnel in charge is to be appointed by the director of the unit.
  8. Unit undertaker of safety and health: Personnel of the unit which is responsible of assisting the unit director in the implementation of administrative business of safety and health management. All units which fit the areas indicated in the bylaw should appoint one undertaker (which can be served by technicians or administrative personnel); this undertaker should possess general knowledge about decrees of safety and health.
  9. Contact personnel of laboratory area: Chosen and appointed among the personnel of laboratorial areas by the laboratorial area responsible personnel. This personnel, which can be served by graduate students or teaching assistants, is responsible of assistance in association of safety and health affairs of laboratory areas, and coordination with the unit undertaker of safety and health to carry out safety and health measurements of the campus. If there are no appointed personnel, then the laboratory area responsible personnel should be in charge of the duties mentioned above.

Article 3: (Laborers' safety and health organizations)

According to 14th article of “Laborers' Safety and Health Law”, the following laborers' safety and health organizations are established:

  1. Committee of Environmental Protection and Safety
  2. Center of Environmental Protection & Safety

Article 4: (Laborers' safety and health personnel)

According to the 14th article of “Laborer's Safety and Health Law”, the following laborers' safety and health personnel are set up:

  1. One professional director of laborers' safety and health.
  2. One senior supervisor in management of laborers' safety.
  3. One supervisor in laborers' safety and health.

Article 5: (Safety and health responsibilities of personnel of all levels)

The safety and health responsibilities of all persons of the university are described as follows:

  1. The unit responsible personnel is in charge of:
    1. The directing, planning, and supervision of laboratory area responsible personnel, unit undertaker of safety and health, and other personnel of each laboratory to obey the regulations on safety and health management.
    2. The direction and supervision of scheduled inspection, examinations, grading, environmental surveys, and occasional un-notified inspections of laboratories within their responsible district.
    3. Coordination with the implementation of safety and health management measures of the university.
  2. The laboratory-area responsible personnel is in charge of:
    1. Establishing, along with personnel of laboratorial areas, working regulations of safety and health which suit individual needs, and revision of regulations every three years.
    2. Supervision of the personnel within relative responsible districts to attend safety and health related educational trainings (which are held by the university), and appoint necessary personnel to attend educational training for operating staff and operational directors of special areas.
    3. The drafting of SOPs (standard operation procedures) according to the equipment, materials, experiments, research and training procedures within laboratorial areas.
    4. The implementation of safety analysis before operation, and safety guidance before research training, in order to make sure all personnel thoroughly understand the safety regulations before any related work is started.
    5. Demand stop of all operations when accidents are about to happen in any laboratorial area, and help to dissipate personnel to safe locations.
    6. Other related matters in the management of laboratory safety and health.
  3. The unit undertaker of safety and health is in charge of:
    1. Conducting safety and health management procedures advised by authorities.
    2. Assisting the director in the popularization of safety and health related items.
    3. Assisting the director in other matters related to safety and health management.
  4. The laboratory-area contacting personnel is in charge of:
    1. Coordinating with unit undertaker of safety and health on the implementations of safety and health management of the school.
    2. Assisting in the production and management of safety and health information of laboratory areas.
    3. Assisting the laboratory-area responsible personnel in contact of safety and health matters of laboratory areas.

Article 6: (Arrangement of safety and health management information)

Laboratory areas should prepare following information on safety and health management:

  1. A folder of “Laboratory safety and health information”, which contains the following documents:
    1. A basic information list of laboratorial safety and health. (Created individually by each laboratory based on actual circumstances).
    2. A printed copy of “NCU working regulations of safety and health”.
    3. A printed copy of “NCU safety and health management measure for laborers.”
  2. A folder of “Disaster prevention plans”, which contains the following documents:
    1. A printed copy of “NCU prevention plan of occupational disasters”.
    2. A printed copy of “NCU automatic inspection plan of safety and health.”
    3. A printed copy of “NCU general plan of danger notification”.
  3. A folder of “Safety information of substances”, which contains the following documents:
    1. “Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)” of the dangerous substances in use. (Created individually by each laboratory based on actual situations) (Every dangerous substance in use must have an individual MSDS)
    2. A “Dangerous substance list” of the dangerous substances in use. (Created individually by each laboratory)
    3. An inquiry CD-ROM disc of “MSDS” provided by the university.
  4. A folder of “Emergency measures”, which contains the following documents:
    1. A document of “NCU plan for emergency measures”.
    2. A document of “NCU emergency measures on accidents caused by chemical substances”.
    3. The following charts: “emergency contact procedure chart of disasters” and “emergency procedure chart of chemically caused injuries” (provided by the university) should be posted at clearly visible locations.
  5. A folder of “Operation safety and inspection”, which contains the following documents:
    1. Standard operation of experimental procedures. (Created individually by each laboratory based on the actual circumstances)
    2. Other safety notices of dangerous operations.
    3. Automatic inspection recording charts of mechanical equipment and operations. (Filled in on schedule by individual laboratory areas)
  6. A record book on “Usage of dangerous substances” should be kept, and put near the place of usage.
  7. Notifications of dangerous substances should be posted:
    1. Chemical containers should be labeled in Chinese, and chemical cabinets should be indicated about the danger by illustration.
  8. “General working regulations of safety and health in laboratory areas” should be clearly posted on walls of laboratory areas.

The commonly used documental information described above is to be updated for laboratory areas by the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety. Particular laboratory areas are to revise exclusive documents, depending on specificity of the laboratory and accidents which are likely to happen.

Article 7: (The management of toxic chemical materials)

If laboratory areas of the campus encounter the usage of toxic chemicals, the following regulations should be followed:

  1. A sign indicating “Operating area of toxic chemicals” should be posted on the passage doorways of the laboratory.
  2. A folder of “Management of toxic chemicals” should be kept, and should contain the following documents:
    1. The permission document of toxic materials, which conforms the premise of not exceeding the minimum quantity limit.
    2. The operation records of toxic chemical materials.
    3. Related regulations of operation and management of toxic chemical materials.
  3. Indication labels of toxic chemicals should be posted.

Article 8: (Handling of chemical wastes)

When chemical wastes are produced from laboratories, following regulations should be applied in handling:

  1. Storage areas should be clearly labeled, along with content indication of the stored substances.
  2. Storage areas should have clear descriptions of the compatibility of different waste liquids, and liquids which are incapable of storing together should be separately stored.
  3. Storage areas should have “Classification standards of laboratory wastes” announced by the Ministry of Education adhered on adjacent walls.
  4. Storage areas should prepare waste liquid storage barrels which fit the standards which are given by the Environmental Analysis Laboratory of the Environmental Protection Administration.
  5. Waste liquid labels should be pasted on storage barrels.

  Article 9: (Management of graduate students at laboratories requiring special attention)

The Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry, Graduate Institute of Optical Sciences, Department of Life Science, Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, and Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering are significant spots of safety and health management on campus. Graduate students in the above units should be treated by the following measures:

  1. Before entering laboratory areas, one should carefully read “Safety and health regulations of laboratory areas” (provided by the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety). Signature of the reader is required after the regulations are thoroughly read, as a sign of comprehension and ability to follow. The laboratory-area responsible personnel is responsible of delivering the signed document back to the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety.
  2. Students are required to attend a school-wide safety and health educating lecture and training course (with a total of 3 hours), which is held by the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety at the first semester of every academic year. Those who fail to attend will not be allowed to enter laboratory areas; those who fail to attend without a reason may be deprived of their opportunity to receive scholarships and assistantships.
  3. The safety and health educating lecture and training course described above can also be privately held by each department or graduate institute. In these cases, the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety should be notified one week before the date of the course, and a name list of attendants should be reported afterwards.

Article 10: (Management undertaking)

When maintenance service needs to be called in for repair of laboratory equipment, the unit in need should conclude a “Commitment of safety and health” of NCU with the contractor corporation, and has the responsibility of notifying the contractor corporation, before the process of construction, of safety and health matters on the construction site.

Article 11: (Emergency rescue and notification of accidents)

When disasters or accidents occur on laboratory areas of the campus, the laboratory-area responsible personnel should take immediate action in emergency rescue, and carry out complete investigation and analysis of the situation, which is also to be recorded.

If one of the following accidents is to happen, the laboratory-area responsible personnel should immediately inform the Department of Military Training and Education, the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety, and security guards of the university:

  1. Accidental death.
  2. Injured (including minor wounds or injuries) people exceeding 3 persons.
  3. Injuries from the leakage of ammonia, chlorine, hydrogen cyanide, phosgene, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, and more than one person have the need of hospitalization.
  4. Other disasters announced by the Council of Labor Affairs.

The laboratory-area responsible personnel is to deliver a written report within 12 hours of the accident; the Center of Environmental Protection & Safety, after receiving the written report, is to report to inspection organizations within 24 hours. In exclusion of the need to carry out first aid measures, the scene of the accident is not to be moved, changed or destroyed without permission of judiciary or inspection organizations.

Article 12: (Reward and penalty of ratings on implementation effects)

The Center of Environmental Protection & Safety is allowed to assign non-scheduled squads for the examination of implementation effects of environmental protection, and laborers' safety and health on laboratory areas. The examination results should be further reported to the Committee of Environmental Protection and Safety for deliberation.

Laboratories with outstanding results on examinations are to be awarded by the university, and have priority in budgets granting matters. The unit undertaker of safety and health will be rewarded separately by the President.

Faculty, staffs, students and student trainees and laboratory-area responsible personnel who seriously violate this measure shall be reported to the Committee of Environmental Protection and Safety for discussion and after resolution is reached, may follow with public warning, suspension or decrease of budget, or become labeled as service results. Seriously unqualified laboratories will undergo closure or other proper restrictions and penalties.

Article 13: (Penalty responsibilities)

If laboratory areas receive penalties by violating the Laborers' Safety and Health Law or related regulations of this bylaw, the laboratory-area responsible personnel should take the responsibility of penalty payment, according to his/her duties.

Article 14: (Implementation procedures of application and revision)

This bylaw is to be applied after approval of administrative meeting and ratification of the President of NCU. Revision of the bylaw is to undergo the same procedures.