Environmental Health and Safety reaches 50-year milestone
Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) was established as a department on campus in 1974. This year marks 50 years of service to the Virginia Tech community.
“We touch everything that happens on campus. There is not a building that we don’t inspect,” said Bernadette Mondy, assistant director for laboratory safety and an employee in the department since January 1992.
Environmental Health and Safety plays a crucial role in supporting and enhancing teaching, learning, and research activities by ensuring regulatory compliance and promoting a safe and healthy environment across all university locations. The department maintains a safe campus by ensuring that university activities comply with environmental, health, and safety policies, regulations, and laws through preventive control strategies and initiatives.
“The often-unseen work of our Environmental Health and Safety team is a critical part of the enabling infrastructure that supports our strategic vision of global distinction. The story of our EHS team is also the story of Virginia Tech growing into a world class research institution. I look forward to the department’s continued contributions to the safety and productivity of our research and educational programs,” said Amy Sebring, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Notable events
Over the past 50 years, many memorable events have taken place to help shape Environmental Health and Safety into the department it is today.
From 1960-85, the university operated its own nuclear research reactor, one of the first in the country. The research program spurred the creation of the radiation safety program within Environmental Health and Safety.
“The research reactor did university research faculty work with NASA. This work involved neutron activation analysis to determine the elemental composition of samples provided by NASA," said Doug Smiley, who worked for the department from 1980-2017, when he retired as assistant director of radiation safety.
Smiley said neutron activation analysis is where small samples are shot into the reactor that are then activated by the neutron flux, and then they come out and are counted on a machine that will tell what elements are in that sample. The reactor was decommissioned in 1985 and removed in 1987, but the radiation safety program within Environmental Health and Safety continues to this day.
In 1990, Environmental Health and Safety consisted of seven people. Today, the staff has grown to 37.
In 2004, Environmental Health and Safety hosted the College and University Hazardous Materials Management Conference at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, making for the largest attendance at the time.
In 2008, the hazardous waste building was built. This state-of-the-art building won a Virginia architecture award. “It’s something we are really proud of. It’s a very spectacular facility if you are in this business,” said Mondy.
The current building Environmental Health and Safety resides in has been renovated to include a large classroom. This classroom has helped to enhance training programs within the last few years with over 50,000 training registrations per year.
A big goal has been to integrate across campus programs. Numerous academic programs now incorporate Environmental Health and Safety classes with safety as a core component of each student’s experience.
In 2017, a medical services clinic managed by Environmental Health and Safety opened at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. The clinic houses three nurses. Individuals who are in Environmental Health and Safety’s occupational health programs go through that clinic.
Looking ahead and supporting Virginia Tech’s mission
As research becomes more complex, continuous learning is mandatory for Environmental Health and Safety experts.
“EHS offers a broad range of services for students, faculty, and staff to keep the campus safe and healthy. We promote safety education and minimizing the university's impact on the environment. EHS collaborates with researchers to be in compliance with federal and state regulations,” said Dennis Nolan, executive director of Environmental Health and Safety. He said he wants the department to continue to provide a safe and healthy learning, living, and working environment at Virginia Tech.
The department collaborates with units across the university and external regulatory agencies, promoting a positive, responsible, and integrated safety culture. Environmental Health and Safety serves the entire Virginia Tech community, including the Blacksburg campus, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, graduate centers, the D.C. area campuses, Agricultural Research and Education Centers across Virginia, the Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center, and other facilities owned or leased by Virginia Tech nationally and internationally.
