CALS Research Division > Compliance

Occupational Health Program

The UW Occupational Health Program promotes health and wellness for all UW Madison personnel and works to reduce injuries and illnesses in the workplace. In addition to general safety and ergonomics information, the OHP website provides resources for animal users including:

Safety Information
- Animal contact risk questionnaire
- Species specific zoonosis information
- Animal handler guides
Guidance on completing the Occupational Health section of animal protocol forms.
On line training including:
- Animal User Safety Training
- Animal User Safety Training (En español)
- Animal User Refresher Safety Training for Personnel with Animal Contact
- Blood Borne Pathogens Safety Training
- Liquid Nitrogen Safety Training
Classrom training for Personnel with Animal Contact.

Research Animal Resources Center (RARC)

RARC provides a wealth of information and services to help PIs doing research involving animals. The center is an adminstrative unit of the Graduate School and has four primary functions.

provide veterinary and laboratory services in support of quality animal care.
provide the support and training necessary to provide the highest quality care possible for the University's research animals.
provide oversight and assistance in assuring compliance to all laws, regulations, and rules governing the care and use of laboratory animals.
conduct direct or collaborative research and/or consultation on animal models for biomedical research.

CALS reccommends that any researcher doing work involving animals or contemplating animal research spend a little time exploring the RARC website. The site provides information and guidance on many animal research topics including:

Animal protocol forms
Veterinary Standards and records requirements
Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) Policies

The Center also provides a veterinary pharmaceutical supply store.

Responsible Conduct of Research

Every so often new stories appear regarding research misconduct. Most of the situations that hit the press involve blatant violations - falsification of data or images or plagiarism. It is unusual that researchers at the UW are involved in this type of misconduct, but what about the smaller things; purchasing something on grant funds that is not allowed, cleaning data a little more than you should? Ethical standards are central to ensuring the quality and integrity of research. The following is taken from the web based course "Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research", which can be found on the website of the U.S. DHHS Office of Research Integrity.

There is no one best way to undertake research, no universal method that applies to all scientific investigations. Accepted practices for the responsible conduct of research can and do vary from discipline to discipline and even laboratory to laboratory. There are, however, some important shared values for the responsible conduct of research that bind all researchers together, including honesty, accuracy, efficiency, and objectivity. There are no excuses for compromising these values. Their central role in research is the responsibility of each and every researcher.

Unclassified Staff Code of Ethics

The Unclassifed Staff Code of Ethics is a section of the Wisconsin State Statutes [Chapter UWS 8 – University of Wisconsin System statutes] that addresses research compliance issues. The statute is easy to read and not excessively long. Some particular area to emphasize are:

UWS 8.01(1) Declaration of policy
(1) Every member of the unclassified staff at the time of appointment makes a personal commitment to professional honesty and integrity, to seek knowledge and to share that knowledge freely with others. Such a commitment is essential for the university to perform its proper function in our society and to ensure continued confidence of the people of this state in the university of Wisconsin system and its personnel. It is a violation of this commitment for unclassified staff members to seek financial gain for themselves, their immediate families or organizations with which they are associated through activities that conflict with the interests of the university of Wisconsin system.

UWS 8.025(1) Outside activities and interest
(1) OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES. Members of the unclassified staff are free to engage in outside activities, whether or not such activities are remunerative or related to staff members' fields of academic interest or specialization. However, no member of the unclassified staff may engage in an outside activity if it conflicts with his or her public responsibilities to the university of Wisconsin system or the institution at which the unclassified staff member is employed.

UWS 8.025(3) Outside activities and interest
(3) INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES. The unclassified staff members of each institution, with the approval of the chancellor, shall develop policies and procedures which shall, at a minimum, provide:

(a) Standards concerning the use of university facilities and personnel in connection with outside activities;

(b) Standards concerning absence from regular duties for the purpose of engaging in outside activities;

(c) Guidelines identifying types or categories of outside activities which may result in a material conflict of interest; and

(d) For such reports of anticipated outside activities as are necessary to insure compliance with s. UWS 8.04

UWS 8.03 Standards of conduct
(1) Personal Gain from University Position.

(a) No member of the unclassified staff may, in a manner contrary to the interests of the university of Wisconsin system, use or attempt to use his or her public position or state property, including property leased by the state, to gain or attempt to gain anything of substantial value for the private benefit of the staff member, his or her immediate family or any organization with which the staff member is associated.

(b) No member of the unclassified staff may solicit or accept from any person or organization anything of value pursuant to an express or implied understanding that his or her conduct of university business would be influenced thereby.

(c) No member of the unclassified staff may intentionally use or disclose confidential university information in any way that could result in the receipt of anything of value for himself or herself, for his or her immediate family or for any other person or organization with which the staff member is associated.

Helpful Links

NIH requires instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research for recipients of NRSA training grants. Links to a variety of ethics resources can be found on the NIH website.
On-line training is available through CITI. If the course does not appear when you log in, click the Update Groups button to select it.
RSP website page on Research Ethics.
Graduate School links on Conducting Research Responsibly
CALS ethics policy - a mechanism for students or other researchers to report suspected incidences of scientific misconduct on the part of anyone including professors.
The U.S. DHHS Office of Research Integrity website provides a great deal of information on research misconduct and ethics.
The Council of Graduate Schools has a Responsible Conduct of Research Initiative and produces a publication entitled "Graduate Education for the Responsible Conduct of Research".

You may also find other areas in the compliance section of our website helpful.

Forms & Documents

Below are all of the forms and documents for the Compliance Resources section. To view all forms and documents on the Research Division website, click here.

Note: Sections marked ** link to documents housed on sites external to the Research Division


Compliance		↑ Back to top
Confidentiality
Confidentiality Agreement (General)		DOC
Confidentiality Agreement (Template for Dairy Research)		DOC
Protocols
CALS Animal Care Committee (2005-2006)		DOC
CALS Animal Care Committee (Sept 2006)		DOC
CALS Animal Care Committee (Sept 2007)		PDF
Research Service Guides		DOC
Thumbs		DOC
Regulatory
AD416-417 Instructions		PDF
AD421 Instructions		PDF
Thumbs		PDF
**External Regulatory Documents	Source
Federal, State, and University Policy on Outside Activies Reports	Grd Sch	HTML
Resources

CALS Research Division

Compliance Resources