Report 2017-119 Recommendation 38 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 #38 To: San Diego, California State University

To ensure the health and safety of employees working with hazardous materials, San Diego should, by December 2018, make the required trainings available to employees and establish procedures for ensuring that the employees have received all required trainings.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020

San Diego State University has reviewed its training records and developed procedures for assigning and monitoring in-person or on-line safety training for new and current employees. The campus is utilizing the features of the CSU Learn (SumTotal) Learning Management System (LMS) to ensure employees receive the required training and that it is appropriately tracked by the campus.

CSU Learn sends automated emails at regular intervals (generally weekly) to the employee and their supervisor when training has not been completed by the specified due date. EH&S generates monthly reports to identify employees that have not completed training.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

San Diego provided evidence demonstrating that it made the required trainings available to employees and established a training program and procedures related to the trainings and their frequency. In addition, the procedures describe how it will ensure that the employees have received all required trainings.


Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019

The recommendation has been fully implemented. Procedures have been strengthened to ensure employees receive all required training either in-person or on-line. The procedures describe how new and current employees are assigned to safety training and the notification process. The campus is now utilizing the many features of the CSU Learn (SumTotal) learning management system (LMS) to ensure employees receive the required training and that it is appropriately tracked by the campus. When employees are identified for training by academic and non-academic departments, that information is entered into the LMS. The system provides biweekly employee status monitoring to Environmental Health and Safety Department (EHS) and reminder notifications to employees. On a monthly basis, EHS informs department management of training deficiencies identified by CSU Learn for follow-up resolution.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

San Diego provided evidence demonstrating that it made the required trainings available to employees and established procedures related to the trainings and their frequency. However, the procedures do not describe how it will ensure that the employees have received all required trainings.


1-Year Agency Response

The campus has developed an employee health and safety training management procedures document. It lists training courses by work area. In addition, EHS has an updated roster that includes training completion dates for those employees with health and safety training requirements. At the systemwide level, the Chancellor's Office is implementing a learning management system, "Sum Total". This system will replace the current manual tracking with a modern automated tool.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

San Diego provided evidence demonstrating that it made the required trainings available to employees and established procedures related to the trainings and their frequency. However, the procedures do not describe how it will ensure that the employees have received all required trainings. Therefore, we have assessed this recommendation as partially implemented.


6-Month Agency Response

Implementation is in progress. The campus has identified employees who are required to take training as noted in Recommendation 34. Training for these individuals will commence after "Sum Total", a new CSU systemwide learning management system, is implemented by the Chancellor's Office.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending


60-Day Agency Response

Implementation is in progress. The campus is currently reviewing training records of all impacted employees. Training will be made available and procedures will be established to ensure that training is completed.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending


All Recommendations in 2017-119

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.