Planning & Procedures

For Faculty, TAs, and other Instructors of FHL Courses and Training Workshops

PLAN AHEAD! Please give early thought to your class schedule of activities in terms of safety, equipment and supplies needed, your course allowance for incidental costs, and the scheduling of van and vessel use. For all course supplies, place requests with Stockroom Manager Peggy Combs; if she does not have the items in stock, she will order them on your course/workshop allowance. Do not purchase course items yourself (with personal cash/card/check or UW procard) with the expectation that the course budget will cover costs.

LAB AND FIELD SAFETY & PROCEDURES

We’ve created a LAB & SAFETY CHECKLIST for Instructors; please look over it!

FHL Research Policies & Procedures apply to all FHL visitors, including course/workshop instructors and students. As instructors, you are responsible for ensuring that procedures are followed by not only yourself but also your students. See bottom of this page for links to further safety information.

When planning lab and field activities for your course, evaluate the potential risks using the University of Washington Laboratory Risk Assessment and Field Work Risk Assessment tools. Consider eliminating or modifying activities that pose significant risk. Also, take into account the trainings required for certain activities (e.g. van driver, motorboat driver, and chemical safety trainings). For students with special needs, work with the FHL Academic Services Manager (Maia) to customize the activities for the individual as needed. See UW Policy SGP 208 Reasonable Accommodation of Students with Disabilities for instructor expectations when a student with a Disability Resources for Students (DRS) agreement is enrolled in class.

Lab Procedures & Chemical Use

See our page on Lab Procedures and the links therein.

1) Whenever possible, minimize activities that will generate hazardous wastes, especially in large quantity.

2) Only faculty and TAs may check out chemicals, return them to the stockroom, or manage and dispose of hazardous wastes. If you have questions about chemical use, disposal, logging wastes, etc., speak with Peggy in the Stockroom.

3) For your planned activities, refer to the UW EH&S Training Matrix to identify required trainings. Inform your students of the trainings, schedule a class time for them, and maintain documentation of who has completed which ones. A UW user ID (“NetID”) – which all enrolled course students and appointed faculty will have – is required to take the trainings. WORKSHOPS: if you or your students will need trainings, reach out to Bernadette (holthuis@uw.edu), who can assist non-UW instructors and students in getting NetIDs.

Below are listed three trainings commonly required. Note that these may not apply to your course and/or other trainings may apply.

ONLINE TRAININGS COMMONLY REQUIRED FOR COURSE LAB WORK
Managing Lab Chemicals (1 hr) – For anyone who is working in a lab with hazardous chemicals: https://www.ehs.washington.edu/training/managing-laboratory-chemicals-online

Using Formaldehyde (20 min) – For anyone working in a lab where formaldehyde (formalin) is being used: https://www.ehs.washington.edu/training/formaldehyde-safety-online

Using a Fume Hood (20 min) – For anyone using a fume hood (which should include everyone using formalin indoors): https://www.ehs.washington.edu/training/fume-hood-training-online

4) If chemicals will be used for a planned activity, locate the Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for the chemicals and create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the activity. Keep documentation for both in the lab and review them with your students.

5) Complete a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Assessment for all activities and plan to have the appropriate PPE available for you and your students. The Stockroom carries lab coats, gloves, and safety goggles.

COURSE ALLOWANCE

Before the start of the term, when student numbers have solidified, instructors should plan how they will spend their course allowance. During the term, it is the instructors’ responsibility to keep track of their spending so as not to go over. If your course requires vessel time that extends beyond the allowance, consult with Megan Dethier; we may be able to subsidize additional vessel time. Also, if the course requires expensive equipment that FHL does not have and that could be used by other courses, consult with Megan about purchases.

Reach out to the FHL person listed below to place your requests well in advance!

2025 COURSE EXPENSE RATES (UW BUDGET)

	Rate	For Info & Reservations
Vans	$11/hour away from campus (up to $50/day)	Jodi VanderYacht
Rowboats	Free of Charge	Kristy Kull
Motorboats	$84/hr (+$30/hr for driver)	Kristy Kull
R/V Kittiwake	$360/hour with deckhand	Eric Loss
Copies/Prints	$0.10/side B&W, $0.25/side color	Diana Pieples
Supplies	Cost	Peggy Combs

GENERAL PROCEDURES

FIELD COLLECTING. See our page on Collecting & Transporting Organisms for information on policies, procedures, and the necessary permits. All class collections except plankton and microalgae must be reported online at the end of the course: https://tinyurl.com/FHL-Collections. Our courses and workshops should set good examples, treating our environment and neighbors with respect. Questions about collecting should be addressed to Kristy Kull or Megan Dethier.

VANS. FHL’s white UW vans are for class use only. University of Washington policy states that only current UW faculty, staff, students, or official volunteers are allowed as drivers or passengers in these vans, and that drivers must be UW authorized. For details on van procedures, including how to sign up as a UW volunteer driver if you are not a UW staff, faculty, or student, see our page on Van Use.

ROWBOATS. Orientation is required. Please see our page on Rowboat Use.

MOTORBOATS. Anyone who wishes to operate an FHL motorboat must have a current WA State Boater Education Card AND complete an FHL motorboat course. If you are interested in using the motorboats for your course, see the FHL Small Boats page for details and contact Boating Safety Officer Kristy Kull well in advance to discuss.

R/V KITTIWAKE. To schedule use of the Kittiwake, check the Kittiwake calendar and contact Captain Eric Loss to discuss your needs. Eric is available to operate the vessel on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. If you cannot make those days work in your class schedule, let him know as he may be able to arrange for a replacement captain for another day. The calendar fills up quickly, so get your course on the schedule early!

SUPPLIES. If you know your course or workshop will need particular supplies, place a request with Stockroom Manager Peggy Combs, who will order the items on your course/workshop allowance. You can send her links to the particular items needed. If there are items that you are asking your students to purchase for the course (e.g. waterproof notebooks, dissecting tools, textbooks), let Peggy know about those as well; she can order them to have available for purchase by the students. Do not purchase course supplies with your personal card/check/cash with the expectation of reimbursement from FHL, and do not place FHL course purchases on your UW procard.

EQUIPMENT. Even if you are certain that FHL has the items your course will be using, inform Stockroom Manager Peggy Combs of those items, including: 1) standard pieces of equipment such as microscopes (how many and what kind?), 2) specialized pieces of equipment, and 3) limited items that your course will be using heavily (e.g. a flume or fume hood).

COMPUTER SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, & PHOTOMICROSCOPE SETUPS. If your class will need specialized software on the FHL computers, contact IT Manager Dylan Crosby. Also contact Dylan if you will need a computer, monitor, and/or photomicroscope setup in your lab.

LIBRARY MATERIALS. To check on whether the FHL Library has certain materials or if not, if it can obtain them from the UW Libraries system, contact UW Librarian Maureen Nolan.

PRINTING & PHOTOCOPYING. Your course budget will be charged for copies and prints. To make copies, use the copier in the Library. To make prints, use any common-use computer in the Computer Lab to print to the two machines (one black-and-white, one color) in that building. Next to the Library copier and the Computer Lab printers, you will find a sheet on a clipboard for tracking use; each time you make copies/prints, please note the number you made on the sheet (to later be charged to the course budget). Contact the FHL IT folks if you need assistance.

COVID & OTHER ILLNESSES

In case of symptoms or exposure to COVID or other respiratory illnesses, this flowchart provides up-to-date guidance for next steps.

FHL Isolation Procedures. If someone on campus reports symptoms and current UW guidelines advise isolation, we will do what we can to isolate the individual from others on campus, and will ask them to refrain from indoor class activities and communal meals for a period. FHL course instructors generally organize and ensure delivery of food and necessities to students in isolation. The Dining Hall has take-out containers, and staff there are accustomed to having students come through to fill up a container for another student.

If one of your students is in isolation, you can make your lectures available to them remotely; ask the FHL IT folks if you have questions about setting up for Zoom lectures in the Commons or Lecture Hall.

END OF TERM

The last day available for class activities (including lab and campus clean up, discussions of grades or student assignments, etc.) is the day BEFORE students depart.

Instructors are responsible for ensuring that at the end of the term, all FHL spaces (labs, outdoor tanks, refrigerators) and equipment used by their course participants are returned to the state and location in which they were found. This includes making sure that checked out equipment has been checked back in; borrowed chemicals have been returned to the Stockroom Manager; library books have been returned to the library; refrigerators and freezers have been emptied; live organisms returned to the site of collection; hazardous wastes properly labeled and disposed of; and sea tables cleaned out and drained. Schedule a class time before departure day for lab clean up.

One instructor should fill out, sign, and date the Course Departure Checklist and return it to the Front Office.

Course Departure Checklist

Links to safety information

Friday Harbor Laboratories