General emergencies should be rare, but would include fire, flood and electrical outage. For some (e.g., fire) an alarm would sound. For others (flood, electrical) you will simply discover the problem while working.

Our primary concern is to get the human personnel out of the building, especially if the situation is at all dangerous. So please LEAVE with your cell phones in hand IMMEDIATELY when you suspect or hear warning of an emergency. We are extremely concerned about the well-being of our animal subjects as well, but please note that STUDENTS CANNOT TRY TO REMOVE ANIMALS DURING AN EMERGENCY. Student workers should focus on:

Here are the steps to getting out of Hulings basement:

  1. Check the Hulings Map to find the quickest route to exiting the space. This map is available inside the colony facility, in Robyn Durand’s office, for quick reference.
  2. Use stairwells to exit the building. Do not use the elevator.
  3. There should be emergency lighting in the halls to illuminate your departure. All animal rooms also have an emergency battery backup to continue ventilation and lighting during all emergencies (power outage, flood, fire).

Other emergencies might involve EXPOSURE TO ELEMENTS WHICH REQUIRE QUICK WASHING/CLEANING. For risks per species which you might be dealing with, see the SPECIES-SPECIFIC training sections (listed below). But, if you need a quick wash, here are ways to accomplish that:

  1. An eye wash station is located near the biology colony rooms (see map). Just pull the handle and get your face in there!
  2. A full shower station is located in Room 11, near lockers near psychology animal spaces. Jump in and turn on water!
  3. A full medical first aid station is available in Robyn Durand’s office, and in many of the labs in psychology (Hulings 12, Hulings 14, Hulings 2). Here you’ll find antibiotic topical ointments and bandages (in case of any injury that may involve animals).
  4. If you are handling sharp instruments (i.e., needles with syringes, for example) they should always be disposed of in our “sharpies” containers, located in the labs in Hulings 2, Hulings 10, and Hulings 14. These are biohazardous waste containers, so if you have nicked yourself, sharpies disposal is the way to go to eliminate the chances of exposing blood/fluids to others.
  5. Please make sure the animal care manager, Robyn Durand, is informed of any injury or problem you have while working with the animals (including falls, bites, or any other injuries that are work-related). She has a notebook on her desk that can be used to file an incident report.