Colleen Battista recently joined the Swarthmore community as the College’s environmental health and safety officer. In this role, she will be responsible for managing the College’s environmental health and safety programs as well as managing institutional compliance risk in the areas of biological, laboratory, chemical safety, and hazardous materials. 

Battista will be a key compliance officer for relevant laws and regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and state, county, and local authorities. She will also be a key health and safety point person for community members, responding to concerns related to safety and injury prevention, chairing and directing the work of the Safety Committee, and serving on the Institutional Biosafety Committee. This role is especially important in a new world of safety regulations for COVID-19, as she will provide recommended controls to help protect workers from hazardous work conditions, and management of any on-site hazardous waste and chemical spill responses.

Battista comes to Swarthmore from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where she worked for 12 years as a senior safety manager, supporting the needs of CHOP employees and patients. While at CHOP, she created many programs in employee injury prevention and bio-response readiness, while leading the hospitalwide education and training program for hospital employees.