Workplace Safety Statement
As the Department of Facilities Management, we are entrusted with the lives and futures of our employees, students, faculty and staff. Our mission as stewards of the University is to plan, construct, operate, and preserve the campus environment through safe, sustainable, and reliable practices in service of student success, research excellence and employee satisfaction. Our core values are Service, Integrity, and Excellence! We support this mission by using five principles: mutual trust, shared understanding, leadership intent, disciplined initiative, and prudent risk management.
Our team is committed to prioritizing safety with a positive attitude. We balance our sense of urgency in all we do against being good stewards for the campus community. We value our people; we develop and take care of each other. We comply with all applicable occupational health, safety, and environmental protection laws, and adhere to accepted health of safety work practices, including active utilization of Operational Risk Management (ORM) methodology.
As leaders on the Facilities Management team, all supervisors are expected to continuously take action to learn from our collective mistakes, discover root causes, apply and share lessons learned, and teach others to build trust in our safety culture. We are supported by the University's Office of Environmental Health and Safety, which promotes safety principles, assists supervisors with technical services and training, and helps our team maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
We have zero tolerance for unsafe actions in the workplace. Each team member must own their critical role of providing honest feedback to leadership regarding safety deficiencies. Leadership and subordinates are encouraged to build relationships based on integrity and open communication. Team members are encouraged to raise awareness of safety practices, share concerns, bring options and recommend solutions to address hazards in a realistic and timely manner. Report any unsafe condition or observations to Environmental, Health and Safety at https://report.uark.edu/.
As your Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management, I affirm that our department's mission contribution is built on the safety, health and wellness of our team and that we seek to strengthen the skills and competencies of each employee to meet this endeavor. There will be no retaliation for reporting or calling attention to unsafe working conditions. However, the failure of workers to respect safety policies, practices, or procedures will be met with zero tolerance and may result in disciplinary action. We owe it to your loved ones that each of you go home in as good or better condition than when you came to work.
Together is better! Every person matters! Every dollar matters! Everyday matters!
Mike Oestereicher
Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities
University of Arkansas