Universities and colleges in the United States are vital communities, teeming with people and vast resources. Because of such factors as class schedules, on-going research, tight academic calendars and highly transient populations, these communities function with diverse operations that need a constant degree of normality for maximum effectiveness. Due to the specialized nature of higher education institutions, universities and colleges are vulnerable to a wide range of situations capable of upsetting normal day-to-day operations. For any university or college, the safe operation of campus is essential to the goals of the institution, the quality of the environment, and even its survival. Among higher education institutions, the issue of safety is a broad and encompassing concept but often with no clear lines of responsibility. In contrast to industries, which have special units or groups of people to plan and deal with disruptions or emergency situations, higher education institutions often overlook or even ignore safety concerns. Among most industries, especially those involving work with volatile chemicals or other substances as well as dangerous activities, safety is an essential element of sound management. To address the safe operation of a campus, every higher education institution in the United States has, in one form or another, has an environmental health and safety (EH&S) program. The main principle of an EH&S program is to support and advance the teaching and research activities of the institution through the promotion of a safe and healthy campus, by providing and coordinating services that minimize the risk of occupational illness, injury or environmental contamination. Given the diversity that characterizes the array of colleges and universities in the United States in the 21st century, it is important to know the structure of EH&S programs in higher education institutions and how they are implemented. However, few, if any, studies have been conducted to examine what EH&S programs are comprised of, what role they play in higher education institutions, how they are organized and structured, how they are funded and staffed, and what effect they have on the risk of accidents or the fiscal impact to institutions. This study have determined that for research institutions, the staff and funding of EH&S programs have significant impacts on the safe operation of the institution. In particular, EH&S staff number has a significant impact on the number of reported injuries and illnesses and the number of lost workdays. The study also found that there are two types of organizational structures for EH&S programs: a centralized EH&S program, where all the components are within a dedicated EH&S program; and a fragmented structure where the components are disjointed from one another and would report to the institution's higher administration directly and separately. However, the study found that the EH&S organization structures reporting schemes are not significant in ensuring the safe operation of the institution. Furthermore, the study found that EH&S program expenditures significantly affect the safety goal. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Education. / Fall Semester, 2011. / June 27, 2011. / College health and safety, Colleges and universities EH&S program, EH&S, EH&S program, Environmental health and safety, Safety program at research colleges and universities / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert A. Schwartz, Professor Directing Dissertation; Frances Berry, University Representative; Shouping Hu, Committee Member; Kathy Guthrie, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182963 |
| Contributors | Le, Richard N. (Richard Ngoc) (authoraut), Schwartz, Robert A. (professor directing dissertation), Berry, Frances (university representative), Hu, Shouping (committee member), Guthrie, Kathy (committee member), Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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