UTILITY SHUTDOWNS
• PURPOSE
To outline the policies, responsibilities and procedures for
scheduling utility shutdowns for facilities at the University
of Delaware.
• POLICY
• To properly operate and maintain the facilities at the University
of Delaware it periodically becomes necessary to shut down utilities
for repairs, preventative maintenance, modifications and improvements.
It is recognized that shutdowns pose potential operational problems
for the occupants of the buildings. The policies here are aimed
at minimizing these problems by clearly establishing the procedures
for scheduling shutdowns.
• To facilitate the timely communication of scheduled utility
shutdowns, the following policies shall be adhered to:
• Each University department shall assign a primary and a secondary
"Facilities Contact". The primary Facilities Contact
(or the secondary in the absence of the primary) will be the
individual with whom the Facilities Department will coordinate
utility shutdowns. It is the responsibility of each department
to inform the Facilities Operations Center, via electronic mail
to FIX-IT, of the identity of these contacts for their
department and if these assigned individuals change.
• Where practical, one individual will be assigned for the
entire building to maintain the building's mailing list, which
is a public mailing list on the MVS System. For buildings with
multiple departments, the individual maintaining the mailing
list should normally be from the largest department. This individual
is responsible for keeping the buildings notification mailing
list current. All other departments will provide this designated
sponsor of the building's public mailing list with the names
of the individuals from their department that are to be included
on the list. The Facilities Operations Center shall be informed,
via electronic mail addressed to FIX-IT, of who is the
designated individual for each building and if this assigned individual
changes.
• The Manager of the Facilities Administration Operations Center
is responsible for implementation of the notification procedure,
and is the point of contact for scheduling utility shutdowns.
• The following procedure governs planned utility shutdowns:
• Any organization or department requiring a shutdown of a
utility servicing a University of Delaware facility must first
contact the Manager of HVAC Services to discuss the nature of
the shutdown, and the implication to other building systems.
The requestor and the Manager of HVAC Services will subsequently
confer and coordinate with other shop managers as required. At
this point, it will be decided what the extent of the outage
or shutdown will be and what, if any, assistance is required
from Facilities Management Operations & Maintenance personnel.
The shutdown notification will be processed by the Operations
Center when they receive the approved request from the Manager
of HVAC Services.
• Any organization requiring the shutdown of a utility servicing
a University of Delaware facility must provide a request for
scheduling to the Manager of the Facilities Administration Operations
Center no later than five (5) full working days prior to the
proposed outage. The following information is required for scheduling:
• affected facilities/buildings
• affected utility(ies)
• reason for shutdown
• desired time of shutdown (dates and times of commencement
of the utility shutdown and of completion of the utility restoration)
• extent of impact shutdown will have on building (entire,
partial, etc.)
When possible, shutdowns should be scheduled during other than
normal working hours.
A "Utility Outage Request Form" has been created on the web at
http://www.facilities.udel.edu/utilityoutagerequestform.aspx
for use in communicating these requests.
• The Operations Center will make notification of the outage
request to the Facilities Contact for each of the departments
occupying the affected building(s). This notification typically
will be made via telephone on the same day as the receipt of
the scheduling request.
• The Department Facilities Contact shall provide the Operations
Center with their department's concurrence on the proposed schedule,
or an alternative schedule with justification, within two (2)
full working days of receipt of the request. The Facilities Administration
Operations Center will distribute a utility shutdown notification
message via the building mailing list no later than two (2) full
working days prior to the scheduled shutdown.
• Two other types of utility shutdowns, unplanned shutdowns
and emergency shutdowns, require different action:
• Unplanned shutdowns would result from previously unknown
conditions or situations requiring urgent attention and making
the normal notification procedure impractical. In these cases,
each department's Facilities Contact will be notified as soon
as possible of the impending shutdown in parallel with the distribution
of the notification via the building mailing list.
• Emergency shutdowns would result in a condition requiring
immediate action to prevent injury to personnel or significant
facilities damage and will typically not allow prior notification
to the building occupants. Information concerning the shutdown
will be forwarded to the Facilities Contacts for each affected
building via telephone as soon as possible, followed by an e-mail
message addressed to the building mailing list.
• Shutdowns of natural gas systems within buildings pose some
unique safety problems due to the flammable/explosive nature
of natural gas and, therefore, the following additional policies
are established. These requirements also apply to contractors
performing work for the University, and it is the responsibility
of the contracting University organization to ensure contractor
compliance.
• Notification of natural gas shutdowns will be made in accordance
with the procedure described above with two additional requirements:
• The notification message will identify the Facilities Administration
Operations Center as the central location for reporting gas odors
in a building.
• The Manager of Electrical Services shall be informed of the
outage schedule to make arrangements for alternate emergency
power generation as necessary.
• Only individuals from the Facilities management Plumbing
Services division are authorized to shut off or restore the natural
gas supply to a building. The natural gas must be shut off at
the meter location for the entire building.
• Provisions must be made for adequate forced ventilation from
the work area to the building exterior.
• The work area must be monitored continuously for flammable/explosive
concentrations of hydrocarbons.
• Work or operation of equipment which produces a flame or
spark is prohibited in the immediate area of the natural gas
system work.
• Upon completion of the work, Plumbing Services personnel
shall conduct a half-hour meter test during the restoration of
natural gas to the building to verify expected gas flow and system
integrity.
• The Facilities Administration Operations Center will then
be notified of the satisfactory completion of the meter test,
by the mechanic performing the restoration via radio or telephone
immediately upon completion of the test.
• Impairment of fire protection/life safety systems must be
performed in accordance with University Policy 7-7 and State
Fire Prevention regulations in lieu of this procedure.
