Report 2017-119 Recommendation 28 Responses
Report 2017-119: California State University: It Has Not Provided Adequate Oversight of the Safety of Employees and Students Who Work With Hazardous Materials (Release Date: April 2018)
Recommendation #28 To: Sonoma State University
To more effectively provide oversight of its chemical plan, Sonoma should annually evaluate its chemical plan for effectiveness and document the results of that evaluation, including its discussions of any recommended revisions.
1-Year Agency Response
As a result of the audit, all safety programs to include the Chemical Hygiene Plan are reviewed and evaluated for effectiveness annually. The review and any changes are tracked in a Record of Revision. This assists anyone reading the plan in understanding what changes were made and the reasoning.
- Completion Date: May 2018
- Response Date: April 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented
Sonoma provided evidence demonstrating that it evaluated its chemical plan in February 2019 for effectiveness and documented the results of that evaluation, including its discussions of any recommended revisions. It also stated within its chemical plan that it will review and update the plan annually.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chemical Hygiene Committee reviewed the Chemical Hygiene Plan at the 03/29/2018 meeting. The campus posted Revision 3.1 of the Chemical Hygiene Plan to our website in May 2018. The campus has revised the minutes of the 03/29/2018 meeting to more accurately reflect the discussion and evaluation of the Chemical Hygiene Plan at that time.
- Completion Date: May 2018
- Response Date: October 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
Sonoma did not provide any documentation to support its claim that it has fully implemented this recommendation.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
60-Day Agency Response
The Chemical Hygiene Committee reviewed the Chemical Hygiene Plan at the 03/29/2018 meeting. The university posted Revision 3.1 of the Chemical Hygiene Plan to our website in May 2018. The Chemical Hygiene Plan will be reviewed annually by the committee and can be found on our website, http://web.sonoma.edu/ehs/hygiene/
- Completion Date: May 2018
- Response Date: June 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
As we stated on page 22 of our report, state regulations require campuses to review and evaluate the effectiveness of their chemical plans at least annually and to update them as needed. The Chemical Hygiene Committee's meeting minutes that Sonoma provided show that the committee directed some changes, including changes to laboratory safety inspection forms and storage of inspection records. However, it is unclear whether the campus performed a comprehensive evaluation of its chemical hygiene plan as required. Until it is able to demonstrate that it has conducted this evaluation, we will continue to report this recommendation as pending.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
All Recommendations in 2017-119
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.