Office of Research UC Davis Animal Care Program Incident and Emergency Reporting Policy - Office of Research

UC Davis Animal Care Program Incident and Emergency Reporting Policy

Purpose

To establish the UC Davis policy for the appropriate line of communication between animal facility staff, the Attending Veterinarian (AV), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), the Institutional Official (IO), and other University officials of vital and important information in the event of an emergency or reportable event.

Policy

To ensure an appropriate and timely response in the event of an animal-related emergency or reportable event, such that all the key animal care and use program oversight members are informed and can initiate appropriate follow-up actions. They key teams members include the IACUC Chair, the IACUC Administrator, the Attending Veterinarian, the Facility Managers, and the Institutional Official.

Procedure

A) Covered Events

While it is not possible to predict the exact nature or timing of an emergency or reportable event, certain situations rise to a level of importance that requires immediate communication that could occur after regular hours (e.g., evenings, weekends, and/or holidays). These include events where:

  1. An incident with significant impact on animal welfare has occurred.
  2. An incident has not yet occurred but there is a real threat for adverse impact to animal welfare and prudent mitigation actions may be necessary. Examples are widespread or extended power outages, flooding, or building damage due to severe weather.
  3. An incident has great potential for adverse public media attention.
  4. An issue is reportable to OLAW, USDA, or another regulatory agency.

B) Reporting

Facility managers have the responsibility of reporting such events to the IACUC Office or the AV. The IACUC Administrator will be responsible for notifying key team members of such  events as outlined above at any hour of any day. It is possible, however, that due to the nature of the event, the AV or another team member, may be aware of an emerging event before the rest of the team. In this circumstance, it will be the responsibility of the first team member to inform the IACUC Administrator who will in turn inform the other team members.

  • The IACUC Administrator will notify the IACUC members either by electronic mail, at the next IACUC meeting or, if needed, a specially convened meeting.
  • The IO will determine if other University officials should be informed and make those contacts as needed.
  • The IACUC Administrator will maintain an updated list of contact information for each team member and distribute as changes necessitate.

Procedure: IACUC-15
Date: June 06, 2016
Enabled by: PHS/USDA
Supersedes: January 10, 2013