Contact Us
Office of Environmental Health & Safety
Phone: (479) 575-5448 | Fax: (479) 575-6474
Monday - Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm
Richard Ashworth, Manager
Amy Harden, Administrative Specialist
Karmen Brehmer, Records Management Analyst
Contacts by area of expertise and responsibility:
Biological Safety | Campus Safety | Chemical Safety | Fire Safety | Hazardous Materials | Lab Safety | Radiation Safety
BIOLOGICAL SAFETY
Jim Hogan, Biological Safety Officer
Office: (479) 575-3533 | Cell: (479) 879-2168
Email: jrhogan@uark.edu
James Robert Hogan, PhD, Biological Safety Officer, has Bachelor of Science degree in Comprehensive Science and Honors from Villanova University. He earned a PhD in Biology from the University of Notre Dame Center for Tropical Research and Training. He spent four years with the Indiana State Department of Health wearing many hats including the Laboratory Training Coordinator and Biological Safety Liaison. He has been with ENHS since 2016.
CAMPUS SAFETY 
Danielle Best, Campus Safety Officer
Office: (479) 575-2909
Email: dbest@uark.edu
Danielle Best, Campus Safety Officer, has over twelve years of experience operating as Health and Safety Officer for a nationwide state and federally contracted environmental consulting company. She has performed safety oversight, operations, training, and monitoring for offices in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii and Alaska, and various job sites throughout the Northeast, Central, Western, and Pacific Regions. At the University of Arkansas, Miss Best manages the University's comprehensive campus safety program: improving and implementing health and safety plans and procedures in the workplace; ensuring compliance with relevant health and safety legislation; identifying safety-related training needs; conducting safety inspections and risk assessments; and investigating workplace accidents.
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY 
Will Lynch, Occupational Safety Coordinator
Office: 479-575-2970 | Cell: 479-200-2061
Email: whlynch@uark.edu
Will Lynch, Occupational Safety Coordinator, has a Masters of Science in Occupational Safety and Health with a focus in Environmental Management. Will is an 18 year Veteran of the U.S. Army where he served as a Chinook helicopter pilot and served four combat tours to Iraq (2) and Afghanistan (2). The last three years in the Army he has served an Aviation Safety Officer. Will has completed a Certificate of Occupational Safety Manager (COSM) and OSHA courses including, OSHA 511 (General Industry Standards), OSHA 7115 (Lockout/Tagout), OSHA 30 Hour (General Industry). Will supports and maintains a comprehensive campus safety program; develops accident prevention strategies and root cause analysis; performs job safety analysis and hazard assessments; supports health and safety education training programs; manage, maintain and use safety monitoring equipment and instrumentation; assists with chemical exposure and In-door Air Quality assessments.
CHEMICAL SAFETY
Rick Williams, Chemical Hygiene Officer
Office: (479) 575-4079 | Cell: (479) 879-2161
Email: raw002@uark.edu
Rick Williams, Chemical Hygiene Officer, has over thirty years of municipal, state, and federal regulatory compliance experience in fire, hazardous materials, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and building codes. He has served as Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, Building Official, Hazardous Materials Specialist, Code Analyst and Homeland Security Supervisor at federal, state and city levels, experience that includes over 3000 hours of level A Hazardous Materials Response and Encapsulation. Mr. Williams' duties include managing the hazardous waste collection, storage and disposal program for the campus as well as auditing campus laboratories, buildings and facilities to assure compliance with state and federal hazardous material regulations.
FIRE SAFETY
Wayne Brashear, Campus Fire Marshal
Office: (479) 575-4419 | Cell: (479) 263-1622
Email: wbrashe@uark.edu
Wayne Brashear, Campus Fire Marshal, has nearly thirty years of experience in fire safety and prevention as a fire fighter, municipal fire chief, and regional manager of emergency services. He served the City of Siloam Springs, AR as Fire Chief for fourteen years, held the position of Fire Chief in Eureka Springs, AR for five years, and served Washington County, both as 911 Director and as Director of Emergency Management. He is an Arkansas State-Certified Firefighter 1, a State-Certified Emergency Medical Technician (since 1972), a Certified HazMat Incident Commander, a Certified Critical Incident Stress Debriefer, and a Certified Emergency Manager. He has accumulated over 1000 hours of training, covering the entire spectrum of the fire safety field. Mr. Brashear conducts inspections of campus buildings and facilities for compliance with established requirements for fire safety; administers a University contract for servicing fire equipment; assists in the development of fire protection and emergency evacuation plans for campus buildings; reviews plans for new construction and renovation projects; provides training in the proper use of fire safety and emergency equipment; and develops programs for fire safety education and prevention.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Justice Williams, Hazardous Material Coordinator and Safety Supervisor
Office: (479) 575-8473 | Cell: (479) 841-0873
Email: jlw067@uark.edu
Justice Williams, Hazardous Material Coordinator/ Safety Supervisor, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental, Health, and Safety Management from Northeastern State University. He has two years of experience in environmental counseling, remediation, and site clean-up and assessment. Justice's responsibilities include managing the campus fume hood program, emergency response, developing the campus respiratory program, initial response to IAQ, and other environmental concerns.
LAB SAFETY
John David Dixon, Lab Safety Compliance Coordinator
Office: (479) 575-5336 | Cell: (479) 466-1045
Email: jdd07@uark.edu
John Dixon, Laboratory Safety Compliance Coordinator, holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Arkansas and has 10 years of experience in nanotechnology in life sciences. In his capacity as Lab Compliance Coordinator, he is responsible for conducting periodic safety audits and walkthroughs of all campus laboratories, training and assisting laboratories in the implementation and use of the University EHS IM system (BioRAFT). He acts as a liaison between laboratory PIs and supervisors, EH&S, and the various regulatory agencies involved with hazardous material. He is responsible for development, oversight and monitoring of the overall campus laboratory safety compliance program.
RADIATION SAFETY 
Peter Chowdhury, Radiation Safety Officer
Office: (479) 575-3379 | Cell: (479) 263-2572
Email: pradyotc@uark.edu
Pradyot (Peter) Chowdhury, Radiation Safety Officer, holds a doctorate degree in physical science and has contributed to nuclear, radiation and laser research for a couple of decades publishing numerous papers in reputed international journals. He is multilingual and worked in Germany, Japan, Canada, USA and India. Since 2009, He has been working in the area of Medical and Health Physics as a Radiation and Laser Safety Officer. As Campus Radiation Safety Officer Dr. Chowdhury supervises all aspects of the University Radiation Safety Program which include:
- assuring compliance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Arkansas Department of Health regulations,
- the safe use of radioactive materials on campus,
- radiological safety training,
- radioactive waste pickups,
- radiological instrument calibration services,
- the campus dosimetry program to monitor and record individual radiation exposure levels,
- consulting and support services for all radiological safety issues.
ASSISTANT BIOLOGICAL AND RADIATION SAFETY
Tim Webb, Assistant Biological and Radiation Safety Officer
Office: (479) 575-7916
Email: txw019@uark.edu
Tim Webb, Assistant Biological and Radiation Safety Officer, holds a masters and bachelor's degree in chemistry. Tim has 23 years of experience in industrial research and development and quality assurance and experience in management, engineering, and chemist roles. Tim will be working closely with the Biological and Radiation Safety Officers by assisting with audits and compliance inspections of various campus departments, laboratories, and facilities as well as assisting in waste management compliance and pickups.