EPA Training for AU Laboratory Staff

The Board of Regents (BOR) of the University System of Georgia (USG) signed an agreement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on behalf of its member institutions including Augusta University (AU) to perform environmental audits of all member institutions. This agreement is a part of EPA’s program entitled, "Incentives for Self-Policing: Discovery, Disclosure, Correction, and Prevention of Violations."

In the spring of 2010, a BOR audit team consisting of an environmental consulting company and trained auditors from other USG institutions visited the Health Sciences campus in 2010 and visited the Summerville campus in 2011 to audit each campus for compliance with EPA regulations. A combination of approximately 260 shops, clinics and laboratories were audited for compliance with EPA programs. Reports of all violations from the audits were submitted to the President of each institution, the BOR, and the EPA in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The agreement that the BOR signed with the EPA protected all member institutions from any monetary that would have been applicable due to any disclosed violations.

The term of the agreement has expired and AU is no longer protected from potential fines should the EPA and/or EPD decide to conduct an environmental audit of the institution and discover recurrence of previously disclosed and corrected violations. To help prepare the institution from a potential re-audit by the EPA/EPD, the AU Environmental Health & Safety Division has developed a training module that presents questions and problems, as well as proposed solutions, for several areas that were cited as violations from previous inspections at AU and from other institutions. In 2010 and 2011, the audit teams looked for similar EPA violations as those covered in the training module.