CF considers your safety inside and out

afety is often an issue you consider after the fact: "I should have used an oven mitt on the cookie sheet;" "I wish I had worn knee pads with my roller blades;" or "If only I had reinforced my porch railing last week." Fortunately, for the students, faculty and staff at MU, safety is an issue considered every day by Campus Facilities.

Building safety

Campus Facilities' primary involvement in safety is making sure MU's buildings are safe. Here's a quick summary of the steps we take to keep you safe:

• When a new building is built, our planning, design and construction staff makes sure it meets federal, state, and MU safety codes.
• Buildings are inspected regularly by our maintenance staff. During the inspection, we make sure all building systems are functioning properly and that the building shell is secure. Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) also conducts building safety inspections — biannually for buildings with labs and annually for all others.
• Building occupants can report any safety problems to the Service Desk at 882-8211 (see story on previous page).
• Custodians keep buildings clean and free of debris.

Safety emergencies

A major safety threat to people working in buildings is a possible fire. The MU campus has fire protection equipment in every campus building. You probably have noticed our lead fire inspector, Ted Turner, regularly checking fire protection equipment in your building. The schedule for checking fire equipment is as follows:

• Alarm systems: every week.
• Sprinkler systems: monthly.
• Smoke detectors: semiannually.
• Fire extinguishers: annually.

MU also encourages departments to develop emergency evacuation plans for each campus building. EH&S has been helping departments prepare such plans and can be contacted for assistance (see resources at right).

Campus safety

Columbia may not be New York City, but we must make sure our walkways and outdoor areas are safe — especially at night. Three important factors keep MU safe at night: good lighting, no overgrown bushes or hiding places, and emergency phones. Here's a quick summary of the steps we take to keep you safe at night:

• Our maintenance staff helps to maintain the campus nightways — a series of lighted pathways around MU for use by pedestrians after dark. Exterior lights are checked regularly and non-functioning lights repaired. The department of student services publishes a campus nightways map (see resources at right).
• Twice a year, Campus Facilities also participates in the M S A/G P C safety walk. At the safety walk, students and campus administrators walk across the university at night and identify any safety problems or concerns.
• The grounds department trims bushes and trees on a two-year cycle so they do not create overgrown, shadowy areas of the campus or interfere with campus walkways.
• Campus Facilities maintains the lighted domes on emergency phones. Mizzou Telecom maintains the phone equipment which connects you directly to university police in an emergency.

If you have a safety issue you would like to discuss with Campus Facilities, please call Phil Shocklee at 882-3301.