Incidents and Emergencies
In the event of a
fire, life-threatening injury,
exposure to chemicals, or complicated spill.
CALL 911
Incidents, Injuries, and near-misses
Response
Your first response will depend on the type of incident that occurred. Your lab should be prepared and understand how to respond for all relevant incidents.
Reporting
All incidents and near misses (e.g. "close calls") need to be reported to DRS 217-333-2755 or drs@illinois.edu. It is critical to report all incidents as there are various policies that require incidents involving specific materials and/or serious injuries to be reported in a timely fashion.
Additionally, it is important that you and your supervisor submit the First Report of Injury/Illness Form. For more information about this form and the submission process visit the Risk Management website.
Lessons Learned
All accidents, whether they resulted in injury or not, should be reported to DRS. DRS will look into the circumstances to help find the root cause. The purpose is to prevent similar accidents in the future, not to blame anybody. Incidents that seem minor sometimes lead to more serious incidents in the future.
Emergency Preparedness
Building Emergency Action Plan (BEAP)
A building-specific document designed to assist building occupants with their emergency planning and response efforts. Contact your supervisor or building facility contact to find your BEAP.
How to Prepare
Aside from reviewing the above documents, it is important to know what to expect and how to react in case of an emergency situation.
- Information on what to expect when calling 911 for a police response - Calling 911 UIPD (PPT Presentation).
- Information on what to expect when calling 911 for a laboratory emergency - Calling 911 Urbana FD (1hr video).
Additionally, the university offers resources and training to ensure you can help prevent and are prepared for emergency situations.
- Read DRS' Emergency Preparedness page, which discusses spill kits, emergency eyewashes and showers, fire extinguishers, and the BEAP.
- UIPD publishes an Emergency Response Guide with steps you can take in the event of various kinds of emergencies.
- Schedule an active shooter presentation with UIPD; link to a recent presentation (requires UIUC login).
- Take the DRS provided Fire Extinguisher Training.
- Take the DRS provided Chemical Spills Training.
Spill Prevention and Response
Preventing Spills
As with all incidents, best practices is to put in safeguards to mitigate the possibility of one occurring.
Responding to Spills
Call 911 immediately in the event of a complicated chemical spill. If you are unsure if a spill is a complicated spill, call 911.
Responding to spills will differ based on the amount and type of material involved. DRS has provided the following resources to handle some simple spills.
Spill Kit Materials can be acquired at most of the campus storerooms or from your preferred vendor.
Stay Prepared at Home
We encourage you to stay safe and prepared when you are outside of campus.
Emergency Preparedness Plan
Use Ready.gov to learn more about preparing an emergency plan for your home.
Emergency Alerts
Sign up for Champaign County Emergency Alerts via AlertSense. These alerts can include:
- Crime/Imminent Danger
- Evacuation Alert
- Hazardous Materials
- Local Area Emergency
- Missing Persons/Amber Alert
- Any specific weather alerts you would like to be notified of