The Environmental Health and Safety programs at the three colleges received a national award at the International Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) Conference held July 15, 2003, in Nashville, Tenn. The award recognizes innovative environmental protection practices in higher education.

The innovative practices commended by CSHEMA (a division of the National Safety Council) came about through the colleges participation in the Environmental Protection Agency's Project XL since 1999. Named for "eXcellence and Leadership," the Lab XL project enabled the three higher education institutions to
modify hazardous waste regulations created for industries so that they are realistic in a university environment.

Project XL is one of more than a dozen innovative projects facilitated by EPA New England. It encourages testing of cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient methods designed to achieve environmental results superior to those obtained under current regulations and policies.

"In most of the citations of higher education institutions for hazardous waste violations, there was no release to the environment involved," said UVM environmental safety manager and C2E2 President Ralph Stuart. "Rather, the issue was compliance with regulatory requirements for labeling of containers in the lab, documentation of training for lab workers, etc."

Participation in Project XL has resulted in improved worker training and more organized labs with more frequent inspections. The project also simplifies regulation requirements through the merging of OSHA's safety requirements with the EPA's waste disposal regulations.

Because paperwork compliance falls to administrators under the new regulatory scheme, faculty and lab workers have more time to focus on safety in their labs. They also have more time to teach creatively, which has resulted in faculty replacing toxic chemicals with safer chemicals.

"Overall, we're very pleased with the results that all three of the schools have obtained on the XL Labs project," said Gina Snyder, EPA New England's project manager. "The schools have applied holistic environmental management approaches to combine the main requirements of state and federal environmental rules with OSHA's chemical hygiene program requirements. Not only that," she continued, "but in this project the schools have gone well beyond the existing requirements. Like any experiment," Snyder said, "it hasn't been perfect in every single respect, but the changes in chemical management and lab worker training are positive, and we'll recommend the three year extension."