Campus evacuation provides opportunity to learn

A brief but potentially serious incident on campus Monday, Aug. 26 proved to be a valuable learning opportunity for university administrators, staff and emergency planning personnel.

The campus was partially evacuated late afternoon after a contractor doing excavation work on the east side of campus ruptured a natural gas line at 3:35 p.m. Campus security services assisted Saanich police and fire departments in blocking entrances to campus and evacuating the buildings closest to the leak. As a precautionary measure, Saanich fire and police representatives extended the evacuation to the rest of campus.

A crew from Centra Gas capped the line quickly, established that the levels of gas around buildings near the ruptured line did not pose a hazard, and 20 minutes after it was issued, the evacuation order was rescinded. By 4:30 p.m. traffic once again resumed around Ring Road.

The incident itself consumed 27 minutes from start to finish and was over before the campus evacuation could be completed. There were no injuries or property damage.

The contractor was involved in soil testing work at the site of the proposed new student residences across Ring Road from the Elliott Building.

Several debriefing meetings have been held on campus involving senior administrators, emergency response personnel, local safety committee chairs and building emergency coordinators to review the evacuation and determine what can be learned about UVic’s emergency response and planning policies and procedures.

“A number of constructive suggestions were made during these sessions,” says Dean Goard, UVic’s emergency planner. “We learned that we have to improve how we communicate with the campus community in an emergency. As we work on the suggestions that we’ve received we’ll involve the campus safety and local safety committees and communicate with the broader campus community through The Ring.”

Goard says that the suggestions revolve around developing systems to make it easier to get clear and consistent information out quickly and simultaneously to all the buildings and emergency co-ordinators, the information requirements of different categories of emergencies, evacuation procedures and emergency supplies and identification.