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Safety & Emergency Planning

To protect and enhance the professional and personal quality of life of the college community. Exert leadership based on the moral and ethical obligation to prevent injury and save lives. Ensuring compliance by managing regulatory information. Inspire a safety culture focused on open communication, cooperation, collaboration, and education. While striving to be professional, respectful, honest, fair, and consistent.

Safety

Fire & Life Safety

 

Lab & Field Safety

 

Captains Program

Emergency Management

 

Mass Notifications

Emergency Management is the process of creating and implementing strategies to manage emergencies or disasters. Risk Management works with the colleges to create a safe work environment with emergency preparation plans for various situations. It is the District's job to keep its employees, students, and visitors safe in the event of an emergency.

Please take the time to watch this important video: 

 

Disaster Service Workers

All employees at Riverside Community College District and all of its locations are Disaster Service Workers. Disaster Service Workers are public employees who can be called upon to assist in the event of an emergency. Upon hire, employees sign an Oath of Allegiance for their service and follow the District's Board Policy 5807-Disaster Service Worker​.

 

Emergency Operations

Emergency Operations refers to the process of planning, training, exercising, and evaluating to protect people and property in emergencies and disasters.

​The District has an Emergency Operations Plan (draft) in place to assign responsibility to individuals to carry out specific tasks in the event of an emergency.

In order to assist employees, students, and visitors in the event of an emergency, the District also has an Emergency Reference Guide​ that offers guidance for specific types of emergencies.

All of our sites also have Emergency Procedures​ posters on site in multiple locations to assist in the event of an emergency.

 

Building & Floor Captains

Each of our campuses has a Building & Floor Captain Program. Building and Floor Captains are responsible for the safety of individuals in their assigned areas. Each Building and Floor Captain will manage evacuations, check assigned areas, and coordinate emergency operations as necessary.

RCCD is dedicated to providing a safe environment for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The Building and Floors Captain Program has been established to continue that commitment during an emergency.

Captains partner with personnel from Risk Management, Police, and RCCD Management to assist in safe evacuation, shelter in place or lock down procedures in times of crisis. Review the Building & Floor Captain Handbook​ for more information on the program.

 

Emergency Items Available Around Campus

Lock Blok/Door Blok​

The Lock Blok/Door Blok allow doors to remain accessible from both the inside and outside when in the locked position and can easily be removed to quickly lock down a room. View the Lock Blok/Door Blok Instructions for the use on this emergency management item.

Lock Blok/Door Blok Instructions

Stryker Evacuation Chairs

Stryker Evacuation Chairs allow the evacuation of disabled or injured persons, weighing up to 500 pounds, from multi-level facilities in emergency situations. The Stryker Chair Document gives instructions for use of these chairs and  Stryker chair locations.

Stryker Chair Document
Stryker chair locations

First Aid & AED

Riverside Community College District has first aid kits and Automated External Defibrillators (AED) for use across our campuses for the health & safety of our employees, students, and visitors. The link below shows the locations of these items at each of our facilities.

District-wide First Aid & AED Locations​

Additional Resources

CalOES
Cal Fire
Earthquakes-USGS
Southern California Earthquake Data Center
FEMA

Environmental Health & Safety (EHS)

Environmental Health and Safety provides expertise to strengthen the culture of safety and responsibility across the campus community.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely.

Ergonomics helps lessen muscle fatigue, increases productivity and reduces the number and severity of work-related injuries.

Ergonomic evaluations are offered for employees at each of our locations. If you are interested in an evaluation, please reach out to you College Safety & Emergency Planning Coordinator and submit to them a completed Assessment Request Form. Also, review this Ergonomic Worksheet for recommendations on setting up your workspace.

Assessment Request Form
Ergonomic Worksheet

Chemical Safety and Storage

 

Proposition 65 List of Chemicals


The College Safety and Emergency Planning Coordinators and the District Safety & Emergency Manager are responsible for obtaining updates of chemicals listed on the Proposition 65 site and providing new information to affected employees. When new chemicals are added to the Proposition 65 list, warning requirements take effect 12 months from the date of listing. Use the following link for Proposition 65 list updates:

 

Safety Data Sheets (SDS)

Department Managers are responsible for obtaining SDS (usually provided by vendor) used by their department, reporting them to the College Safety and Emergency Planning Coordinators or the District Safety and Emergency Manager, reviewing them for new and significant health and safety information and passing those changes on immediately to the affected employees by additional training sessions, posting of memos or other means of communication.

SDS are readily available from the MSDSOnline website. If a District department intends to use new hazardous substances, or if an SDS is obviously incomplete, the Department Manager should review the MSDSOnline website to determine if an SDS already exists. If there is no current SDS for the chemical in question, the Department manager should contact their College Safety and Emergency Planning Coordinator immediately. A new SDS will be requested from the manufacturer and provided to the requestor. If the SDS is not provided by the vendor within 25 calendar days of the request, the District Safety and Emergency Manager will be contacted for assistance. If a District employee has specific questions or needs additional information on an SDS, the employee should be directed to contact College Safety and Emergency Planning Coordinators and the District Safety and Emergency Manager for assistance.

Waste Management

Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste is defined as a substance that could pose a hazard to human health or the environment when improperly managed. Chemical waste is considered hazardous if it is listed on a Federal or State regulations list or if it exhibits one or more of the following characteristics:

  • Ignitable: Generally are liquids with a flash point below 60°C (140°F).
  • Corrosive: Generally aqueous wastes with a pH of 2 or less or 12.5 or greater.
  • Reactive: Wastes that are unstable, explosive, and capable of detonation or react violently with air or water.
  • Toxic: The chemical that poses a hazard to health or the environment.

Hazardous chemical waste includes, but is not limited to:

Chemicals that can no longer be used for their intended use (e.g. aged or surplus inventory)

Mislabeled or unlabeled chemicals

Abandoned chemicals

Material in deteriorating or damaged containers

Residuals in chemical containers

Diluted solutions containing hazardous chemicals

   

Biological Waste

Biological waste encompasses blood and blood products, pathological waste, cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals, contaminated animal carcasses and bedding, sharps, and biotechnology by-product effluents (i.e. recombinant DNA).

 

Universal Waste

Universal waste includes items like batteries, fluorescent bulbs/lamps/tubes. That require proper collection, recycling, and disposal. This process is designed to reduce the amount of hazardous waste accumulating in solid waste landfills, leading to pollution of waterways.

Compliance

Training and Events Calendar

 

Catalog of Classes

 

Online

 

In person or hybrid

Health & Safety Hazard Reporting Form