Top Stories
Town Hall Recap Now Available Online
Did you miss the town halls held earlier in October? Well you missed more than Russell’s new standup routine, you missed a ton of interesting updates. You can review the presentations here https://buildingoperations.ubc.ca/staff/communications/town-halls/. Follow up with your manager or superintendent for a little more info on anything that isn’t clear.
Municipal Team Cleared Branch Down on Memorial Road
A large branch fell and blocked half of Memorial Road. The Soft Landscape crew was notified and were on site and responded immediately. The area was cleared before any public reports came through. Thanks to Kyle Whitehead for reporting the fallen branch and for Chris Longford and Stacey Ewert for their quick response.
Custodial and Utility Workers Flood and Leak Response is Outstanding
With an extremely wet week behind us, clients are very thankful for the quick action of the Custodial and Utility Worker teams.
There were 19+ buildings that had leaks, drips and floods over the course of Wednesday, Oct.18th’s weather, with ICICS/CICSR being the largest flood.
It took Custodial & UW crews 55 hours to dry out 40 labs, offices, hallways, washrooms, classrooms and closets, which they then went back to clean and disinfect.
Because of fantastic team work, they most likely saved the University thousands of dollars in building repairs, and kept the building up and running.
Way to go Custodial & Utility Workers! Your hard work during the stormy season is very much appreciated by all!
Thanks to Soft Landscape for Clearing Leaves while Accommodating Customers’ Needs
Did you know we’re responsible for collecting leaves that fall from over 11,000 inventoried trees that span across 200 hectares of the Vancouver campus? That’s a lot of leaves, and it takes a responsive crew to remove them in an efficient way that’s minimally impactful to the students, faculty, staff, and visitors who use campus grounds in the fall.
Special thanks go to the Soft Landscape crew who are working hard to remove leaves around campus. By doing so, they improve the safety and accessibility of UBC’s walkways and roadways while protecting landscape health by preventing leaves from rotting on the over 113 hectares of landscaped grounds. All these leaves also make for great compost, which is produced on-campus and distributed across various planted areas and garden spaces.
The Soft Landscape crew has also been working hard to mitigate the disruption of loud conventional gas-powered leaf blowers by occasionally using manual raking techniques around noise-sensitive areas, such as private residences and certain campus buildings.
Also, based on feedback from our clients about noise concerns, Soft Landscape has been piloting use of an electric leaf blower in noise-sensitive areas. Though electric blowers aren’t fully optimized for industrial use, such as in our operations, using them demonstrates how our municipal team is always looking to innovate on our processes to fulfill the needs of UBC’s space users.
Read more about our leaf collection efforts on the Building Operations’ website: https://buildingoperations.ubc.ca/accountability/sustainability/gas-powered-garden-tools/
Protect Your Grand Master Keys with These Simple Rules
To ensure your keys are safe, secure and accounted for at all times follow these simple rules:
Use a key chain or keyback device that is secured to you to ensure you do not lose your keys
- Do not remove any keys from your key set
- Keys that are not being used must be stored in your lock box
- Lost keys or keysets must be reported immediately to your supervisor and manager
To ensure we follow Access Services’ Grand Master Key policy we will continue to conduct random lock box grand master key audits. A reminder that lock boxes are only for your keys, and all personal belongings should be stored in your locker.
Leadership Development- Emotional Intelligent Leader Is Open for Registration
Contact April Wong by November 3rd 2017 to register.
Kids to Work Day Happening on November 1
Thank you to all parents who are bringing their Grade 9 kid on November 1. We have planned a full day of fun and inspiring activities for them. While they start their day at the UBC Ropes Course and end it at the Botanical Garden’s Tree Walk Tour, they will spend some time touring USB so please clean and prepare your shops for the kids.
Thank you in advance to those who volunteered to chaperone the kids.
Reminder to complete Privacy Matters Training by October 31st
If you are reading this newsletter while sitting at your desk then this training is for you. This is a reminder that the online Privacy Matters training must be completed by October 31, 2017. It can be accessed at https://connect.ubc.ca/PrIS-Fundamentals.
To learn more about this initiative, visit https://privacymatters.ubc.ca/about.
Come for Trick or Treating on October 31st
Teams have signed up. Treats have been ordered. Come out and see the Cariboo Daycare kids go trick and treating down the hallway. See them pick their favorite carved pumpkins as you get to choose your favorite, too. As you enjoy the festivities, make sure you also enjoy a nice cup of coffee (or hot cocoa) and a slice of pumpkin pie. See you there!
Our Continued Commitment to Support You
At our recent town halls we discussed the genesis of the APPA Facilities Management Evaluation Program (FMEP). Over the past several months a number of concerns were raised through various channels about aspects of workplace culture and operations in Building Operations. First of all, we want to make it very clear that we take these issues and concerns seriously — our working environment and the well-being of all of our staff is of paramount importance to us.
Consequently, a plan was developed to conduct a review of workplace culture and a review of the Preventive Maintenance Program in Building Operations. This was the basis of the broader FMEP review by APPA, which we have been highlighting recently. We are grateful for the participation and work that many of you put in to make these reviews informative and useful.
The reviews are complete and the managers met last week to create a work plan to respond to the recommendations. There may be other areas for improvement that you didn’t see covered in the town hall overview, and as always we welcome your ideas and observations. The complete plan will be presented to the Board Committee in November and we will be reporting back on the progress made to the Committee on a regular basis. We look forward to working with you to address the concerns raised and to continually improving our operations and work environment.
Quick Updates
Stores Counter Closed from 12:30 – 2:00 pm on November 2nd. Plan your requests accordingly
Welcome to UBC: Dustin Szeto
NPS score decreased to 79% with 3 new promoters.