The following scenarios were presented as part of our Who Does That? event on 1/22/2024 during Compliance & Ethics Week 2024. Please feel free to incorporate the scenarios below into your office's orientation, or quiz your co-workers. The UW is a large organization, but it is filled with friendly experts ready to help you take the trickiest situations in stride.

Required Training

Your office is developing a training that will be required for all of the people in your area of the UW who have certain job titles to take. You need to learn more about resources to ensure it is accessible to participants. Who do you call?

  1. UW-IT
  2. Human resources
  3. Office of ADA Coordinator
  4. Your friend’s husband who uses Bridge as part of his work in UW Facilities
  5. Your coworker who is colorblind

Answer: C. Contact the Office of ADA Coordinator at (206) 543-9717 (voice & relay) or adaoffice@uw.edu.

Lost Computer

Eek! You lost your work laptop on the light rail that had a couple years of your office’s records saved on it. You are concerned about the information that was saved on there getting into the wrong hands. Who should you call?

  1. Privacy Office
  2. Office of Public Records
  3. Records Management Services
  4. The Apple Store at The U Village
  5. Information Security

Answer: A. Contact the Privacy Office at uwprivacy@uw.edu. 

Electronic Approvals

Your office wants to introduce a new agreement for employees to sign electronically. You will be responsible for managing the content of the form and responses, and would like to ensure they are stored outside of DocuSign for proper records retention. Who do you call?

  1. DocuSign
  2. Enterprise Document Management
  3. Compliance & Risk Services
  4. Records Management
  5. Microsoft Services

Answer: B. Contact Enterprise Document Management by emailing help@uw.edu and putting EDM in the subject line.

K-12 Initiative

You work in a department that is beginning a new outreach initiative in which elementary school children will visit your facility on educational field trips. Who do you go to for help to make sure you are setting it all up properly?

  1. Robinson Center for Young Scholars
  2. Office of Youth Protection
  3. Educational Office at the Burke Museum
  4. External Affairs
  5. SafeCampus

Answer: B. Office of Youth Protection. They work to administer the University Requirements for UW and Third Party Led Youth Programs, which is APS 10.13. They provide guidance on how to meet these requirements, and they monitor and assess that departments are in compliance with the requirements. Contact the Office of the Youth Protection Coordinator at 206-616-5706 or uwminors@uw.edu.

Moving Chemicals

The lab PI has asked you to drive some lab chemicals from the UW Seattle campus to a lab at Harborview. You are not sure that you allow to do this. Who do you contact first?

  1. UW motor pool to secure a chemical delivery vehicle.
  2. Contact the UW shuttle for route schedules.
  3. Call (or E-mail) Environmental Health and Safety
  4. Your brother who has a working vehicle and can pick you up.

Answer: C. Environmental Health and Safety. Contact EH&S at (206) 685-2849 or hazmat@uw.edu.

Animal Research

You recently received funding to study learning and memory in red ruby octopuses in your lab. To get started, do you:

  1. Grab your scuba gear and get right to work – that year 1 progress report will be here before you know it!
  2. Contact Export Controls
  3. Reach out to the Office of Animal Welfare to start an IACUC protocol.
  4. Contact Procurement Services to order animals.

Answer: C. UW’s IACUC oversees work with all live vertebrate animals as well as cephalopods. All animal work must be reviewed and approval by the IACUC prior to starting work. Reach out to OAW for help getting a protocol started via the IACUC website.

Against the Policy?

You work in a unit leadership office and you have been made aware that academic personnel have allegedly committed a violation of University or departmental policy. The Faculty Code is confusing to you. You don't really know who you need to contact. Who should you call?

  1. Office of Research Misconduct Proceedings
  2. The administrator in that department
  3. Ask the person's  Teaching Assistants if they agree with the claims and do your own research
  4. Office of Academic Personnel
  5. SafeCampus

Answer: D. Office of Academic Personnel. Contact the Office of Academic Personnel at acadpers@uw.edu. 

Co-worker problem

A co-worker of yours is being sexually harassed by one of your colleagues and he wants the University to do something about it. He reported it anonymously, but nothing happened to the person who is harassing him and you’re all still on the same work shift. Which office can you contact to understand your coworker’s options in this situation?

  1. UW Police Department
  2. Office of Title IX Coordinator
  3. SafeCampus
  4. Human Resources
  5. Call that individual’s supervisor

Answer: B. Office of Title IX Coordinator. Contact the Office of the Title IX Coordinator at 206-221-7932 or titleix@uw.edu.

Duo

You receive an email asking you to confirm your contact information for Duo, the UW’s 2-factor authentication system. You are prompted to scan a QR code that takes you to a UW login page. Before you fill in your password, you realize that this may be a form of phishing. To which office would you report this email so that others don’t fall for it?

  1. UW Recycling
  2. Office of Public Records
  3. Records Management
  4. Internal Audit
  5. Office of Information Security

Answer: E. Office of Information Security. Scams and phishing may be forwarded as an attachment to help@uw.edu or if they are specifically targeting the UW community, they may be forwarded to security@uw.edu.

Big Mess

You discover a storage area filled with paper boxes in your office that you did not previously know about. You have no idea what any of it is, and you don’t have any idea of where to start. Who do you call?

  1. UW Recycling
  2. Office of Public Records
  3. Records Management Services
  4. Internal Audit
  5. Custodial Staff
  6. UW Archives

Answer: C. Email the Records Management ROT Squad, rotsquad@uw.edu for help deciphering your records.

Public Records Request

You receive a public records request in your email from an external source. Do you:

  1. Respond yourself
  2. Call Records Management Services
  3. Contact State Relations
  4. Forward it to UW Communications
  5. Contact Office of Public Records

Answer: E. Please do not respond yourself. Contact the Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings at pubrec@uw.edu or call 206-543-9180 for assistance.

Working with minors

You become aware of concerns by faculty and staff in your department regarding undergraduate students who are under the age of 18, aka “minors”, and whether they need to be treated differently from other University undergraduate or graduate students. Who can help?

  1. Human Resources
  2. Campus Safety
  3. Student Life
  4. Office of Youth Protection Coordinator
  5. UW in the High School

Answer: D. OYPC is your go-to regarding questions about minors, or youth under age 18, in a University setting. Their role is to support you in ensuring minors can safely navigate the university. On this topic, they will discuss the responsibilities all employees have to reporting suspected abuse or neglect of a minor and can also speak to some of the other ways in which minors may experience college differently, or not, depending on the circumstance. If someone came to them, they might also refer them to other offices, such as FERPA (re: their educational records), Title IX (re: reporting sex or gender violence or harassment), Privacy (use of youth’s personal data), or SafeCampus (for safety planning in the event of a threat that might impact the safety of a minor). Contact the Office of the Youth Protection Coordinator at 206-616-5706 or uwminors@uw.edu.

Acid spill

You’re working late on a Monday evening and you spill a 100ml bottle of hydrochloric acid in your fume hood. What should you do in this scenario?

  1. Turn off the lights and leave for the night
  2. Start cleaning it up immediately
  3. Call the UWPD non-emergency line at (206) 685-8973 and ask for the EHS afterhours Staff on Call
  4. Call your High School chemistry teacher

Answer: C. Call the UWPD non-emergency line at (206) 685-8973 (5-UWPD on any campus phone). Ask UWPD to have the EH&S After Hours Staff On Call contact you. They will be able to go over your cleanup options with you, address any concerns you may have about cleaning up the spill yourself and go over any other steps you need to take. 

Student with lactation breaks

Your student, who is lactating, has been taking extended breaks and missing more class time than agreed. As their instructor, which office should you contact to help you address this?

  1. Office of Title IX Coordinator
  2. Office of the University Registrar
  3. Office of the Ombud
  4. The administrator in your own department
  5. Student Conduct

Answer: A. Contact the Office of the Title IX Coordinator at 206-221-7932 or titleix@uw.edu.

Classmates incommunicado

Your student informed you that the University said they are not allowed to speak to their classmate. What’s going on here? How can I, their instructor, get more information and support both students? Is there an office who can help me?

  1. UW Police Department
  2. Student Conduct
  3. Office of the Title IX Coordinator
  4. Ask another student who seems to be friends with them both

Answer: C. Contact the Office of the Title IX Coordinator at 206-221-7932 or titleix@uw.edu.

Storing sensitive student data

You want to buy a new tool for storing sensitive student data for your office.  Who do you call to make sure you are aware of all the things you should consider?

  1. Equipment Inventory Office
  2. Office of University Registrar
  3. Privacy Office
  4. Geek Squad at Best Buy
  5. Student Life

Answer: C. Privacy may also mention information security and accessibility issues. Contact the Privacy Office at uwprivacy@uw.edu.

Accessibility & a federal form

You have to respond to a question about UW accessibility requirements when completing paperwork for a federal grant/program accreditation/504-ADA Form for Subcontract Renewal, etc.

Example of some specific language:

  • Certification from appropriate authorities that all building regulations pertaining to access for disabled persons
  • 504/ADA SELF-EVALUATION AND ASSURANCE OF COMPLIANCE

Who do you call?

  1. Office of Research
  2. UW Marketing
  3. Office of Sponsored Programs
  4. Office of ADA Coordinator

Answer: D. Contact the Office of ADA Coordinator at (206) 543-9717 (voice & relay) or adaoffice@uw.edu.

Spill cleanup

You’ve spilled 50ml of acetonitrile on your lab bench, in front of your fume hood. You have proper PPE and a spill kit in the lab. It seems like an easy spill to clean up, but you can’t remember if there’s anything else you need to do. It’s the middle of the afternoon. What should you do in this scenario?

  1. Call 911
  2. Pull the fire alarm
  3. Wipe up the spill and pretend it never happened
  4. Call the EH&S Spill Advice Line at (206) 543-0467

Answer: D. Call the EH&S Spill Advice Line at (206) 543-0467. An EH&S spill advisor will go over your cleanup options with you, address any concerns you may have about cleaning up the spill yourself and go over any other steps you need to take.

Long-term file storage

You need secure long-term storage for essential documents tied to an automated record retention schedule. For example, an employee resigns, and you need a place to store their personnel records until the files can be automatically disposed of after the required retention period. Who do you call?

  1. UW Archives
  2. Records Management
  3. Privacy Office
  4. Human Resources
  5. Enterprise Document Management

Answer: E. Contact Enterprise Document Management to see if DocFinity is the right solution for long-term record storage. Email help@uw.edu and put EDM in the subject line.

Shipping samples

The lab PI has asked you to ship some blood samples to a colleague in Utah. You have never done this before. Who do you contact first?

  1. Call the your Department finance person because they ship stuff places all the time.
  2. Call UW Mailing Services
  3. Email the Environmental Health and Safety hazmat@uw.edu email address.
  4. Contact UW Transportation Services
  5. Check the Environmental Health and Safety website for information.

Answer: C or E. Both are EH&S. Contact EH&S at (206) 685-2849 or hazmat@uw.edu. 

Mixed-up shared drive

You cannot find anything on your office’s shared drive. There are a lot of “Misc” folders, random receipts saved at the top level. There’s something called “Meghan’s files” when no one knows who Meghan is anymore! Who do you call?

  1. UW-IT
  2. Human Resources
  3. Office of Information Security
  4. Records Management Services
  5. Privacy Office

Answer: D. Contact Records Management ROT Squad at rotsquad@uw.edu. 

Inclusive language

Your office is looking to incorporate more inclusion language in their marketing or communications related to disability. Who do you call?

  1. Victor Balta
  2. Office of ADA Coordinator
  3. A grad student in the English Department
  4. Human Resources
  5. UW Marketing

Answer: B. Contact the Office of ADA Coordinator at (206) 543-9717 (voice & relay) or adaoffice@uw.edu.

Outsourcing & IACUC approval

You need to generate custom antibodies for your research project. You decide to outsource the work to a biotech company who specializes in this service. Is IACUC approval needed for this purchase?

  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. It depends

Answer: A. Yes, IACUC approval is needed for all live animal work funded by the UW, regardless of the performance site. In situations where animal work is performed off-site, IACUC approval may be deferred to the collaborating organization through an agreement called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Reach out to OAW for help establishing an MOU, contact via 206-685-7363 or oawrss@uw.edu.