Information for Group Safety Representatives (GSR)
As an employee, you will support your employer in implementing accident prevention and health protection provisions.
You will follow the approved safety rules and instructions of your employer in relation to occupational safety and health protection and report any deficits that could impair occupational safety and health protection.
As group safety representative (GSR), you support your superiors in implementing the required safety specifications in your research group and coordinate the required measures. In addition, you are the point of contact for the other group members if there are any questions regarding occupational safety, and are also the contact person for the SSHE Department.
In the following, you can find all of the important information, which is also summarised in the Download specification (PDF, 98 KB)
Occupational Safety
The goal of occupational health and safety is to prevent injuries, accidents and illnesses at ETH Zurich. Whether in the laboratory or workshop, during practical student courses and excursions, in the service room or the office: Occupational safety is always based on teamwork. That means that supervisors, employees, lecturers, students, learners and SSHE have to work closely together.
As GSR, you also take on the following tasks, including:
- Implementing safety provisions for ETH Zurich and the group, with the support of the superior
- Reporting relevant incidents, events and safety issues, to SSHE in order to define how to proceed and measures together
- Instruction of new members of the group (laboratory rules, procedure in the event of an emergency etc.) and training group members on the safety-relevant systems and equipment
- Contact person for internal and external inspections and audits
- Cooperation in dealing with damage to property
Depending on your field of work, various aspects of occupational safety may also be of interest to you. Find out about the various topics here:
Operational Environmental Protection
Tasks of theoperational environmental protection include implementation of environmental laws, in particular with regard to water protection, air pollution control, avoidance and disposal of hazardous waste. The topics industrial (chemical wastewater, process / chemical exhaust air, hazardous waste, storage of hazardous substances, extinguishing water retention and protection of cargo handling areas are key tasks. Operational environmental protection is subject to numerous legal requirements. Important legal bases are the Environmental Protection Act, the Major Accidents Ordinance, the Waters Protection Act, the Ordinance on Air Pollution Control, the Chemical Risk Reduction Ordinance and the Waste Ordinance, Ordinance for Handling Waste. In terms of content this means e.g. that hazardous waste is reduced to a minimum and the amount of radioactive waste is kept as low as possible or in principle, chemicals are not released into the environment via wastewater or exhaust air. All ETH members – specifically professors, workshop managers, institute directors, department managers, staff directors, employees, apprentices and students – make their contribution to fulfill that requirement.