142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

307743
Engaging laboratories in University of Washington's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences to establish a model for environmental sustainability

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM

Jennifer Krenz, MS, MPH , Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background/Objectives:  University of Washington’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (UW DEOHS) has 20 laboratories used for research, education, and analytical services.  Activities focus on environmental and workplace factors that affect health, but practices within DEOHS laboratories have not been assessed for their impacts on health and sustainability.  DEOHS has the capability and responsibility to provide leadership and serve as an exemplary model.  Existing programs promote sustainable laboratory practices, such as the UW Green Labs Certification program.  However, participation rates are low and quantitative evaluation approaches have not been widely adopted to measure the effects of green strategies.  The objectives of this project are to assess current practices in DEOHS laboratories, pilot-test and evaluate green strategies, and provide recommendations to the UW Green Labs Certification program on ways to expand and refine their program. 

Methods/Results: Baseline data is being collected and analyzed to characterize chemical use, energy consumption, and waste generated by DEOHS.  Focus groups with faculty, staff, and students will be conducted to discuss baseline assessments, review sustainability programs, and brainstorm ways to improve sustainability metrics and refine the UW Green Labs Certification program.  Baseline assessment and focus group data will be organized into themes, including barriers to sustainability and green strategies to improve metrics.  Specific strategies will be pilot-tested within DEOHS laboratories.  Assessment and evaluation tools will be refined based on our experience.  Baseline assessment data and preliminary results from pilot-testing will be presented.  We will also offer streamlined and comprehensive approaches for quantifying the impacts of green strategies and make recommendations on the integration of these tools into the UW Green Labs Certification program.

Conclusions: This project will engage DEOHS laboratories, raise awareness in the department, identify practical green strategies for laboratories to implement, and provide a process by which to quantitatively evaluate sustainability measures.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice

Learning Objectives:
Assess the sustainability of current practices in University of Washington's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences laboratories Pilot-test and evaluate green strategies to improve sustainability metrics in the areas of chemical use, energy consumption, and waste generation Provide recommendations to University of Washington's Green Labs Certification program on ways to expand and refine their program

Keyword(s): Sustainability, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a researcher in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington and have managed multiple projects focusing on environmental health and occupational safety. I have also worked as a laboratory technician and am familiar with and knowledgeable about activities conducted in laboratory settings. Among my professional interests are implementing sustainable practices into research activities and program evaluation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3140.0: Linking Non-traditional Partners to Address Chemicals and Public Health