​Environmental Functions and Services

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  3. ​Environmental Functions and Services
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Our Commitments, Responsibilities, and Programs

Rhode Island College is committed to excellence in environmental health and safety. The office of Facilities and Operations is responsible for the development and implementation of programs aimed at protecting the safety and well-being of the College community as well as maintaining compliance with Federal, state and local occupational safety, health and environmental regulations. Our programs include chemical safety, occupational safety, biosafety, chemical hygiene, emergency action plan, hazardous waste, and indoor air quality programs.

Environmental Health and Safety Plans

Environmental Functions and Services

Rhode Island College is committed to ensuring that its students acquire a sense of environmental responsibility that they can apply to their future schooling, their careers and to their everyday lives.

Energy Saving Programs

RIC has a computerized building management system in place that is used to control the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in all major buildings on campus. This system allows for energy savings by programming the systems in coordination with classroom and event schedules. The system is managed from a desktop computer and in many buildings temperatures can be controlled down to an individual room level. Room and building temperatures have different set points depending on whether they are occupied and unoccupied.

On-Campus Lighting

The college has retrofitted many buildings on campus with energy efficient lighting. These retrofits continue as we renovate buildings or as stand-alone projects. Lighting retrofits are important as it is estimated that lighting makes up 14% of total energy use in buildings on campus.

Many classroom lights on campus use occupancy sensors so that the College saves energy when classes are not in session and the lights were inadvertently left on.

The College is also conducting pilot studies on different lighting controls on campus, such as daylighting controls and occupancy sensors

Steam Heating

  • The steam plant produces steam that is used to heat the buildings during the heating season and cool the buildings during the air conditioning season (using steam absorbers).
  • The college has made several modifications to the facility that have resulted in significant energy savings. The replacement of several key valves and a reduction in steam pressure has allowed the college to run on one boiler rather than two to achieve these savings.
  • The steam plant operates well within its emission cap.

Safety Data Sheets

Rhode Island College provides a comprehensive online database of hazardous materials where you may search for Safety Data Sheet information. The program allows you to search for all hazardous materials currently in use or used in the past at Rhode Island College by substance name, CAS Number, or by UN/NA Number.

If you are aware of any Hazardous Materials or Toxic Waste problems on, or near, the campus area, please call Facilities and Operations at 401-456-8262.

To make a search for information on Safety Data Sheets, visit CAMEO Chemicals.​​

Other Training

Rhode Island College offers various trainings to educate the campus community about Right-To-Know, lab safety, hazard communications, and more. Please contact us if you would like to schedule a training for your department.

FORMS AND RESOURCES

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Facilities and Operations

The Office of Facilities and Operations provides 24-hour support services to students, faculty and staff in a timely manner through the use of a computerized work order system for maintenance and emergency repairs.