Severe Weather Prompts Reminder of How to Handle an Elevator Failure

Severe winds, in combination with heavy rain over the past few days, have the capability to bring down power lines throughout San Francisco and lead to power outages. The power outage on the Parnassus campus a few weeks ago resulted in some people being trapped in elevators. During severe storms, people should try to avoid using elevators, due to the risk of power outages, according to Christopher Jones, associate director of Homeland Security & Emergency Management with the UCSF Police Department. If trapped in an elevator on campus, people should use the emergency telephone for a direct line to the UCSF Police or push the emergency alarm to signal for help, and should remain calm. People can also use their cell phones to call Facilities Management at 415/476-2021 to report the location, type of failure and other important information. This customer service number is staffed around the clock. In case of an emergency, engineering personnel will respond as soon as possible, however due to the number of elevators that may be affected, it may take up to an hour to manually reactivate all affected elevators. To find out about building issues, the campus community can call the Facilities Management Information Line at 415/514-1212. Additional information about what to do in the event of a power failure is posted in the yellow UCSF Campus Emergency Procedures guide, which should be readily available and visible in locations across the University. For additional copies, please call Jones at the Campus Emergency Preparedness Program at 415/476-5507. UCSF Medical Center staff should refer to the "Rainbow Chart" for information about emergency conditions and basic response. For more copies, call the Safety Office at 415/353-7797. UCSF Facilities Management has staff that monitors power, flooding and debris. For updates on power outages at UCSF, call 415/514-1212. Tune to KCBS 740 AM or local TV channels for emergency advisories and instructions. National Weather Service alerts are available here.