Construction Safety
At San Diego State University, safety is a core value in every construction and renovation project, whether it’s a large-scale capital improvement or routine campus maintenance. We strive to maintain a safe environment for students, faculty, staff, visitors, and contractors by following regulatory requirements and applying industry best practices. At SDSU, we prioritize health and safety in construction settings by promoting situational awareness, encouraging the correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE), ensuring clear hazard communication, and reinforcing safe work practices.
Contractors working for SDSU are expected to maintain the following responsibilities:
- Provide their own Safety Programs: Contractors are responsible for developing, implementing, and enforcing their own safety programs and procedures for their employees.
- Compliance with Regulations: contractors should comply with all relevant federal, state, and local safety regulations (e.g., OSHA) applicable to their work and industry.
- Equipment and PPE: Contractors are typically responsible for providing their own safe and appropriately maintained equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) for their employees.
- Permits: contractors should obtain and manage their own permits necessary for work, permits should be posted at the jobsite and provided to SDSU's point of contact or representative as needed.
- Competent Workforce: Contractors must ensure their employees are competent and adequately trained for the work, including safety training.
- Hazard Communication: They are responsible for communicating hazards associated with their work to their employees and applicable SDSU employees or representatives.
- Emergency Preparedness: Contractors should have emergency procedures in place and coordinate with SDSU on any applicable emergency plans.
- Incident Reporting: Contractors should report any incidents or injuries to applicable SDSU employees or representative when an incident occurs on an SDSU owned property or construction site.
Contact [email protected] with any questions.
No person may enter a permit-required confined space without a confined space entry permit. Entry into non-permitted confined spaces can be made as long as the special procedures for entry into that space are followed. Contractors are responsible for their employees during work in confined spaces.
This policy is meant to apply to all employees, contractors, inspectors, and all other persons entering an identified confined space at San Diego State University. Please contact EH&S for further information.
This written program outlines basic electrical safety requirements for San Diego State University campus employees, focusing specifically on qualified persons and employees who use electrical utilization equipment, electrical distribution equipment, or other equipment in their daily duties.
This program is intended to help ensure that all employees understand the hazards associated with electric energy and how to work safely around electrical hazards while protecting themselves and coworkers.
Excavation construction operations can expose employees to hazardous conditions, such as cave-ins, falls, falling loads, hazardous atmospheres, and incidents involving mobile equipment. This written program includes responsibilities, training requirements, operational procedures, and safe work practices related to work in excavations.
This program applies to anyone who conducts excavation construction operations at San Diego State University. The requirements in this program are in compliance with the California Code of Regulations Title 8, Section 1540, 1541, and 1541.1. The objective of this program is to enable employees to identify hazards and to establish procedures to prevent injury.
This program provides information about best practices, procedures, and training to prevent falls while working on elevated surfaces. The information included in this Fall Protection Program is in compliance with applicable California Code of Regulations and these are indicated in each relevant area throughout the document.
Fall protection includes primary fall protection or engineering controls used to prevent falls, such as guardrails and secondary fall protection, which refers to anchorages and all of the devices that a user attaches to the anchorage (i.e. lanyards, harnesses). This program includes requirements for both types of fall protection.
Hazardous energy can take various forms in the workplace, including electrical, mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and thermal energy sources, i.e.,springs under tension or compression, and chemical, water, gas, and steam energy sources. This program mandates that all hazardous energy sources capable of activating a machine be de-energized or blocked and locked prior to cleaning, servicing, maintenance, or adjustment operations.
This program contains the requirements for lockout/tagout, which involves isolating machines or equipment from energy sources to prevent injury. The objective is to control hazardous energy sources at SDSU in compliance with Federal and Cal/OSHA Requirements for the Control of Electrical and other hazardous energy sources.
Hot work includes activities that generate sparks, flames, molten slag, or hot material, which has the potential to cause fires or explosions. The procedures outlined in this program, including the hot work permit process, are designed to prevent the accidental ignition of combustible and flammable materials and injury from exposure to sparks, heat, and flames.
Anyone conducting hot work operations at San Diego State University shall comply with the requirements documented in this program based on the California Code of Regulations Title 8, Section 4848. Additionally, information contained in the National Fire Protection Association Standard for Fire Prevention During Welding, Cutting, and Other Hot Work and the American National Standards Institute Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes is incorporated by reference into these requirements.
