Roles, Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Authorities
Chapter 45 includes a detailed "R2A2" matrix for people involved in the chemical management program at Berkeley Lab. Chemicals introduce risk to Berkeley Lab staff, affiliates, users, subcontractors, emergency responders, our hazardous waste vendors and our surrounding community. It is important that everyone involved understands institutional expectations and their specific roles, accountabilities, responsibilities and authorities.
Several key roles are discussed below.
There are many people at Berkeley Lab who decide which chemicals to buy, and there are people who give other institutions permission to transport or ship chemicals to Berkeley Lab for use. These decision-makers have important responsibilities under the Chemical Hygiene and Safety Program because they have the authority to introduce chemical risk onsite.
These individuals are accountable for two key issues:
Verifying that the appropriate work authorization, safety controls, security controls and emergency planning for those chemicals are in place BEFORE those chemicals arrive.
Obtaining institutional approval to use hazardous chemicals, when necessary, by following purchasing/acquisition requirements.
Additionally, Procurement Division maintains a list of restricted items including hazardous chemicals/gases that typically require the highest level of control (i.e. Work Planning & Control authorization on a Risk Level 3 - High Risk work activity prior to arrival). General information on restricted chemicals and a link to submit a request for guidance on specific restricted chemical(s) can be found here. Individual chemicals/gases on the Restricted Items List can be found here.
These individuals should also be aware of and practice prudent purchasing practices to reduce the overall chemical risk at Berkeley Lab.
Chemicals owners, or chemical managers, are the individuals accountable for the safe storage of chemicals onsite. These individuals must have the authority to provide or confirm that the equipment necessary to store a chemical safely, such as flammable storage cabinets, secondary containment, etc. is in place and being use. They are also responsible for correcting any storage deficiencies. See link above for more details.
Time Sensitive and Peroxide Forming Chemicals
Chemical owners are also accountable for properly managing time sensitive and peroxide forming chemicals in storage. For more information: