MEMBERS PRESENT:  Katrina Doolittle, David Shearer, Jose Gamon, Doug Parten, Chris Pennise, Michael Abernethy and Richard Long

 The regular Safety Committee Meeting in Academic Research Center Bldg C was called to order at 4:10 pm, but there was not a quorum.

1.  Progress on Department of Homeland Security Chemical of Interest Inventory

a.    Katrina Doolittle gave a brief overview of the Department of Homeland Security Chemical Facilities Rule stating that NMSU was granted an extension for compliance until March 18, 2008.  Katrina stated that many departments are actively working to get chemical inventories in compliance before the deadline and that when the information is received by EH&S it has to be evaluated for each facility. 

b.   David Shearer stated that there are ~757 locations listed as having chemicals; Agricultural farms and Chemistry are areas of higher concerns.  More than half of the departments have complied with reporting deadline. 

2. Vehicle Access Control (progress to date)

a.    Katrina distributed guidelines of the Establishment of Controlled Access Areas and gave a brief discussion on the NMSU utility cart safety program.  She also stated that the Safety Committee is directly responsible for the established controlled access.  Katrina stated that this policy was approved by Administrative Council and that it became effective January 1, 2008.  She stated that Police can issue citations for using motorized vehicles on sidewalks and turf areas, but the extent of the fines are unknown.

3. Utility Cart Safety Program (to be part of the above program)

a.    Katrina stated that the second issue of the new policy is training for utility cart drivers.  The utility cart program was drafted to give departments a self administered training program. 

b.   Katrina gave an overview of Attachments A, B & C of the NMSU Utility Cart Safety Program.  She stated that Attachment A is the Utility Cart Safety Operating Procedures that each operator must read and acknowledge that it was read by signing Attachment C.  The safety inspections on carts are the responsibility of the departments which is Attachment B that the department head signs acknowledging that the cart is safe to be driven.  The signed documents are then forwarded to EH&S.  Carts will be numbered with a decal provided by EH&S so that they can be easily identified.

Discussions were concluded at 4:10.