What can I do in advance of an emergency?

As a research “best practice,” provide all new members of your research group with the document SOM overview of safety issues associated with research areas.  Consider posting a hard copy in your lab or clinical research area.

Sign up UVA Alerts.  This will allow you to receive text messages and e-mails concerning emergency events and can notify you if the University has been shut down.  We recommend that you sign up for both text and e-mail notifications, (The duplication will help overcome outages in cell phone systems, internet, or campus network.  Also, text messages are limited to 160 characters, whereas e-mails will contain more detailed information.)

Become familiar with accessing the UVA emergency site (linked from the bottom of the UVA home page).

Create a local phone chain and make sure everyone in your group understands their responsibilities and the need to act cautiously if conditions warrant.  Each department should have an emergency plan that is updated periodically; make sure the contact information for your group is up to date.

Consider having your freezers monitored centrally.  Facilities Management monitors hundreds of devices across the University, and notifies owners if failure conditions (e.g., temperature rise above a specific threshold) are met.  Contact:  W. David Reed (982-4650; wdr@virginia.edu).