Emergencies - In Any University-owned Property

Any disaster, unusual occurrence, malfunction of a utility or equipment failure which presents imminent danger to any personnel or structure or requires cleaning services should be reported to the Physical Plant Maintenance Operations Center by the supervisor of the affected area. On weekends, holidays and late night hours (12AM to 7AM), the condition should be reported to the Public Safety Department.

Master Keys

New policy as of July 1, 1999

It is the policy of Syracuse University to allow the staff of the Public Safety, Safety Administration, Environmental Health and Physical Plant Departments access to all areas of all university buildings at all times. This is necessary for the safety of all university employees, to protect university assets and to provide routine and emergency maintenance and cleaning.

To facilitate this access, the Physical Plant Department maintains master key systems. Master keys are issued to the Public Safety department, the Safety Administration department, the Environmental Heh Office and to Physical Plant employees on an as needed basis.

 High Security Spaces

On occasion, a dean, director, department head or chair may deem an individual room, lab or office to be a particularly sensitive area in terms of security or contents. If this occurs, he or she may request that the door lock be put on the university's "high security" system. The following conditions will apply:

• The department chair will submit a written request to Physical Plant for the lock to be changed to "high security". The Director of Physical Plant and the Director of Public Safety must approve this request. Any special conditions and cautions for the space must be identified in the written request. The lock will then be changed at the requesting department's expense.
• The Department of Public Safety ONLY will have master key access. If Physical Plant, Safety or other authority needs access for emergency reasons, they must contact Public Safety who will send an officer to investigate and document the request. Under no circumstances will anyone other than an authorized key holder enter one of these spaces without a representative of the Public Safety Department present, and if possible, a member of the department responsible for the space. Any area may be immediately accessed in the event of an emergency. Non-emergency entries would normally require a departmental representative to be notified in advance so he/she may be present.
• Individual keys for the space will be issued only at the department chair's written request. Keys are coded and the requesting department will be responsible for maintaining key issue records, and will, as changes occur, provide copies of key issue records to Physical Plant.
• The department chair will submit a written request to Physical Plant for the lock to be changed whenever an individual issued a key is no longer authorized to have access to the high security area and the key has not been recovered. The lock will then be changed at the requesting department's expense.
• The department responsible for the "high security" space is also responsible to assure the space is cleaned and maintained in safe condition. The space may be inspected periodically in conjunction with a Public Safety officer.
• There will be no individually keyed door locks that are not part of a master key system.

Weather Emergency Closing

A decision to close the University is made only by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Senior Vice President for Business, Finance, and Administrative Services. Their decision is based on the recommendation of the Director of Physical Plant, who in concert with the Director of Public Safety, is receiving constantly updated and projected weather information, as well as information from the City Police and City and County Department of Public Works.

A delay in opening or closing after an overnight storm will be announced on early morning radio broadcasts. Only University News Services, after being notified by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, is authorized to transmit to the news media announcements about closings, work schedule changes, or class start delays, except that University College is permitted to authorize its own emergency announcements after receiving clearance from the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

In the event that a decision to close offices is made during the day (early release), the information will be given by the Vice Chancellor and the Senior Vice President for Business, Finance, and Administrative Services as presented on the notification outline. Notification will occur by telephone and/or fax to each department and disseminated to all affected employees. For those departments in which staff are needed to maintain essential services for students, the decision to release employees early will be at the discretion of the Director of that department.

For further information regarding the procedure for determining weather emergency closing please see the Physical Plant Responsibilities Page on the Internet at http://www.bfms.syr.edu.

Physical Plant Budget

Routine, preventive and emergency maintenance, and major repairs and renovations are provided for all academic, administrative and some auxiliary enterprise buildings by the Physical Plant Department. These services are provided for non-auxiliary departments in the University operating budget. Any extraordinary maintenance requests not falling into these categories will be charged back to the requesting department. Physical Plant is responsible for cleaning services in all nonresidential University buildings. Housekeeping services for residence halls and dining services are provided by the Housing and Food Services maintenance Department.

An agreed upon level of expense is determined for auxiliary enterprises, and physical plant expenses are charged back to these auxiliary departments as work is completed. It is expected that Physical Plant will not exceed this amount except by prior arrangement with the administrator of the affected department.

Services Charged to User Department Budgets

Any department needing maintenance, minor renovation (not requiring modification to mechanical or electrical systems) or rearrangements to its equipment may request such work on a Physical Plant Requisition Form. Requests for such service to be charged to user departments are to be addressed to the Zone Manager. An evaluation of the request will be provided to the requestor with an estimate of required labor and materials. Confirmation of the estimate and an authorizing account number are required before the issuance of a work order authorizing staff assignment or purchase of materials. It is expected that Physical Plant will not exceed the estimated amount except by prior arrangement, in writing, with the administrator of the affected department. Additional work will not be performed and billed unless approved in advance by the administrator of the affected department.

Routine custodial services including dusting, vacuuming, cleaning of floors and vertical surfaces, and removal of waste materials are provided for all academic, administrative and certain auxiliary department buildings within the operations and maintenance of Physical Plant in the University operating budget. These services are provided for academic and auxiliary departments after an annual review with individual departments.

An agreed upon annual expense level is determined for auxiliary enterprises, and custodial expenses are charged back to these auxiliary departments as work is completed. It is expected that the Custodial Department will not exceed this amount except by prior arrangements with the administrator of the affected department.

Billing is rendered weekly on a computer printout for each account. This printout will be forwarded to the requesting department where it can be matched with the copy of the Physical Plant requisition number. Physical Plant charges will appear on the ledger sheets of the general accounting system under the account number supplied on the original request form. Questions involving departmental billing should be directed to Physical Plant Accounting at extension 3505.

Special Custodial Services

The Physical Plant Department offers special custodial services to all departments. These services are provided and billed to the requesting department at cost for material, labor and overhead. Special services include cleaning before, during and after special events and removal of extraordinary amounts of waste material.