December 1997
UMass Boston Joins Laboratory Reform Effort
The Environmental Health and Safety Office of the University has joined a consortium of schools exploring regulatory alternatives to the current scheme of environmental regulation of laboratories. The group, the Laboratory Consortium for Environmental Excellence (LCEE), currently consists of eight New England schools: Boston College, Tufts University, the University of Vermont, UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, Northeastern University, Trinity College, and Harvard University. Other schools have participated in preliminary discussions and are expected to join soon. It is possible that the consortium will expand outside of New England in the future.
One of the first efforts of the LCEE is to develop a proposal for regulatory reinterpretation and relief under the Environmental Protection Agency's Project XL program. A successful Project XL will allow the consortium schools to institute specific alternatives to the current regulatory scheme, providing more flexibility in managing environmental programs in laboratories. Preliminary discussions of this idea with EPA representatives, both in the New England region and in the national office, have been encouraging. This project is expected to be developed by January 1998.
Other activities of the consortium include development of common training packages for laboratory workers about the possible environmental effects of laboratories. The package will also address issues pertaining to regulatory compliance, definition of "best management practices" for management of hazardous materials and wastes to prevent harm to the public health or environment, and the sharing of information and resources to assure that the laboratory environmental programs are as effective as possible.