Office Workplace Safety & Information Guidelines
Office Workplace Safety & Information Guidelines
It is important to think about safety in all aspects of our work, including our own safety and that of our co-workers and students. Staff should review this information and become familiar with the safety information contained in various campus websites. Supervisors should review this information with staff on an annual basis and provide additional training as needed for their unit.
New staff members should be provided with the following safety and emergency management guidelines and information:
Register for UMD text messaging (cell phone, email) via alert.umd.edu
Enroll in emergency management training (link to OEMBC Emergency Preparedness LinkedIn Learning Course)
Receive DRL workplace safety brochure from supervisor
Review emergency management protocols for individuals and offices at prepare.umd.edu. This includes active shooter training
Understand office suite specific protocols and expectations (locations of exits, equipment, etc.)
Enter UMPD emergency line (301-405-3333) and non-emergency line (301-405-3555) and other critical safety contacts into your mobile phone. Note: when you call 911 from your cellphone, calls will be routed to the PG County police instead of UMPD.
In addition to the information provided here, more detailed information regarding many aspects of campus safety can be found at the following:
The Residential Facilities/Resident Life Emergency Evacuation Manual is located in the Emergency Preparedness Share Drive folder.
Detailed information about campus inclement weather policies can be found at umd.edu/weather.
The university may open late or close the campus in the event that inclement weather conditions pose a serious threat to the health and safety of the university community. A variety of factors are taken into consideration, including access to public transportation and Metro, the status of campus roads and sidewalks, and conditions on roads and sidewalks off campus and across the region.
When the university is closed, all classes during that time are canceled and all university offices and non-essential services are closed, unless specifically noted in the closure communication. The Resident Life on-call duty system remains in place throughout the University closure ensuring 24/7 emergency response. The closing may not apply to essential employees. Those employees should contact their supervisor or department head for instructions. For Resident Life employees designated as essential employees, you may be required to come to work depending on staffing needs. This mostly applies to members of Leadership Team, live-on staff, and staff providing critical functions.
Essential services will still be provided to on-campus residents during inclement weather. University students living on campus should check the Resident Life website for the latest resident updates during inclement weather. In the event of a campus closure, Dining Services operates on an abbreviated schedule. Other campus services (Health Center, Transportation Services, RecWell) may be closed or have limited services available depending on the weather conditions.
Updates regarding UMD’s closed status, as well as other schedule changes, are typically announced through various channels, including:
UMD Snowline (x5-SNOW or 301-405-7669)
Local news outlets via the web, TV, and radio
The goal of department-wide, internal incident notifications is to make Resident Life graduate and full-time staff aware when critical incidents occur in the residence halls and our P3 apartments so staff are informed and know where they can direct questions, seek additional information, or seek support should the incident have an impact on students with whom they work or on their direct area of positional responsibilities. Notifications will balance staff’s need to know while also respecting the privacy of students and the sensitive nature of many incidents. All information contained in these notifications should be considered sensitive and confidential.
Criteria for incidents which will prompt notification:
A member of Resident Life’s Senior Staff or designee will initiate notification to drl-staff@umd.edu for the following categories of critical incidents:
Serious crime in a residence hall
Major facilities outages or issues
Report of a potential hate bias incident in a residence hall where Resident Life community staff have made notification to affected residents
Confirmed death of an on-campus student
Other incidents at the direction of the Director of Resident Life
Process:
For incidents that occur at night or throughout the weekend, the Director, Associate Director for Communities, or their designee will initiate email notification to Resident Life staff via drl-staff@umd.edu as soon as possible and by 9:30 a.m. the next business day. For incidents that occur during the workday, all efforts will be made to initiate email notification as soon as possible after knowledge of the incident. Notifications will include a brief summary of the incident and will identify a point of contact for staff who have questions or need additional information.
Questions related to these guidelines can be directed to the Director or members of the Resident Life Senior Staff team.