Records Retention Policy

The Department of Environmental Health and Safety is the official repository for documents shown below. The department is responsible for retaining the official copy of a record and serves as the department responsible for the development, maintenance, retention and destruction of records. Records are retained as specified by UM, IHL, state, federal or outside entity guidelines. The University Records Retention Policy regulates the storage of current and noncurrent copies of records retained for managerial or regulatory reasons.

The following records are retained permanently:

Emergency response reports for spills or releases exceeding a reportable quantity(RQ), annual summary reports, facility compliance inspection reports, environmental monitoring, operational reports containing summary or detailed information of long-term value; hazardous waste shipping manifests, land disposal forms, container contents sheets, TCLP analysis, GM reports, disposal certifications, and other associated documents that permanently document the removal and disposal of hazardous materials by outside vendors or by direct release into a sanitary sewer system; records that document the provisions of the radiation protection program, including releases of radiation and individual occupational radiation exposure history records; authorizations to release information, carcinogens approvals, individual safety training records.

The following records are retained for five years:

Safety equipment testing and calibration data and reports, emergency response reports for spills or releases not exceeding RQ, radiation testing records, including surveys, calibrations, measurements and quality control tests, inventories, authorized transfers, receipts, or returns of radiation sources or radioactive materials; hazardous materials shipping papers and declarations, and office files that document daily or other periodic and/or routine activity.

The following records are retained for one year:

Internal Disposal Request Forms are held until disposal of the indicated material(s) is certified by vendor.

Departmental records will be disposed of upon reaching the minimum retention period in accordance with the University Records Retention Policy, unless they are retained for future administrative, legal, research/historical or fiscal purposes.