Safety Inspections

Welcome to Drexel University’s safety inspection platform. The Department of Environmental Health and Radiation Safety (EHRS) uses an inspection platform called BioRAFT. The BioRAFT platform is a web-based safety and compliance management platform for academic, clinical and research operations.

The Inspection module provides the following important features:

• Electronically sends inspection reports immediately upon completion of the inspection. Automatically emails reminders and follow-up notices to the supervisor and group compliance liaisons.
• The supervisor and group compliance liaisons are able to document corrective actions for inspection findings.
• Tracks correspondence between supervisor and inspector.
• The supervisor and group compliance liaison can access all inspection reports. 
• The module tags and tracks findings that have been observed at least once within the last 18 months.
• Inspectors are able to schedule multiple inspections based on specific filters (i.e. building, classification, category, or hazard).
• The supervisor or compliance liaison can perform self-inspections.
• Compliance dashboards can be accessed by the compliance liaison, supervisor, department head, and Environmental Health and Radiation Safety.

The purpose of the BioRAFT inspection module is to assist supervisors in maintaining compliance with regulatory agencies and to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for students, faculty and staff.

Inspections are preformed by EHRS staff on a regular basis. Supervisors are notified of the inspection five to ten days in advance. Inspections may be rescheduled if there is a conflict. EHRS performs unannounced inspections which cannot be rescheduled. Unannounced inspections are usually triggered if EHRS staff observe unsafe conditions during a building walk-through.   

The inspections cover but are not limited to the following topics:

• Biological Safety
• Chemical Safety
• Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety
• Equipment Safety
• Fire and Life Safety
• General Laboratory Safety
• Hazard Communication
• Mechanical Equipment Safety
• Machine Safety
• Personal Protection
• Radiation Safety
• Training
• Waste Handling

The inspector will be able to include comments, recommendations, pictures and corrective actions to each finding. Each finding will have severity level inputted into the comment section of the finding. The severity level is based on a 4-point scale, with Level 4 indicating the greatest severity. These levels are initially set to low priority. The inspector will use his or her judgment to determine the severity level.

Download the BioRAFT Inspection Module Guide [PDF] for more detailed information concerning the inspection process.

Please contact EHRS if you have any questions or concerns.