GDL-3000.01: Emergency and Courtesy Phone Guidelines

GUIDELINES SUMMARY

Intended Audience: All Employees
Standard Owner: Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services

Microsoft Teams Voice is the officially supported telephone service for the conduct of university business. Information Technology Services (ITS) also maintains infrastructure to support Emergency and Courtesy Phones for specific situations.

ITS, in consultation with key departments at Western, recommends that Emergency Phones be installed to meet the life-safety needs of the campus community in the following locations:

• Laboratories and other high-risk work areas.
• Areas of Refuge.
• Elevators.
• Strategic, high-traffic outdoor locations and indoor locations near areas of egress.

Courtesy phones should be installed in high-traffic public areas and shared workspaces in Academic buildings, where a computer is not available to make a call. In residence halls and dining facilities, ITS will work with University Residences to determine locations for Courtesy Phones. Courtesy Phones do not replace Microsoft Teams Voice as the officially supported telephone service for the conduct of university business.

For the complete guideline, click “Full Document” tab at top of page.

FULL DOCUMENT

Intended Audience: All Employees Standard Owner: Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services

1. Definitions

2. Emergency Phone Guidelines

2.1 General Recommendations

• Emergency Phones should be clearly marked.
• Emergency Phones should be strategically located near areas of egress or in high-traffic outdoor locations with poor cellular service coverage.
• Emergency Phones should provide pre-programmed one-button access to the University Police emergency phone number.
• Emergency Phones should be designed to work in a power outage, or else be clearly labeled that they do not work in a power outage.
• Emergency Phone recommendations will be jointly informed by the expertise of Western personnel in Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), Facilities Management (FM), Capital Planning and Budget (CPB), and Information Technology Services (ITS).

2.2 Area of Refuge Phone Recommendations

• Western will consider the full cost, benefit, and feasibility of meeting the strict requirements of an Area of Refuge designation before seeking to have any facility designated as an Area of Refuge.
• Western will aspire to meet all code requirements for Area of Refuge phones as outlined in NFPA 72.

2.3 Elevator Phone Recommendations

• Every elevator car is required to include a mechanism for summoning emergency services.
• Elevators will conform to the code requirements set forth in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators.
• Each conveyance must have an individual line.
• Each Elevator Emergency Phone should automatically dial the University Police Department Emergency Number 360-650-3911.
• Each Elevator Emergency Phone should display at the receiving end a Caller ID displaying that the call is coming from an elevator, and displaying the Building Name and Conveyance Location / Elevator Number. If the Caller ID is not capable of displaying that information, each Emergency Phone should play an annunciation giving the Building Name and Conveyance Location / Elevator Number.
• Each Emergency Phone should be provided with Emergency Back-Up Power.
• Elevator phones will be speaker phones. Handsets are not acceptable.
• FM and ITS will evaluate whether each elevator should be serviced by an analog line or upgraded to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) connection.
• Elevators in facilities outside of the Bellingham campus (e.g., Shannon Point Marine Center, Sea Discovery Center) will be serviced via a direct phone line from the local phone company.

2.4 Recommendations for High-Risk Work Areas

• An Emergency Phone should be available in or near every laboratory facility on campus.
• Emergency phones should be installed at every utility tunnel entrance, and at strategic locations throughout the tunnels.
• Emergency Phones should be installed in mechanical rooms designated by FM as high-risk work areas.
•  EHS and department safety coordinators will recommend other locations where an emergency phone would be prudent.

3. Courtesy Phone Guidelines

3.1 General Recommendations

All Courtesy Phones should meet the following requirements:

• Wall-mounted (if possible).
• Openly accessible (not behind locked doors).
• Clearly labeled with a distinct color or appropriate signage.
• Native support for Microsoft Teams, and operable via a Teams Common Area Phone license.
• Provisioned and managed via AudioCodes One Voice Operations Center (OVOC).
• Configured to support 911 emergency calling, and have a static e911 dispatch location record, in compliance with FCC rules, Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act, and 47 CFR Part 9, Subpart F (“Kari’s Law”).
• Where possible, powered via a Power-over-Ethernet connection on a network switch that is connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and the building’s emergency generator standby circuit.

ITS will determine the supported models of phones and any ancillary materials related to the installation of the phone.

Courtesy Phones are not intended to replace the use of Microsoft Teams Voice for the conduct of university business, nor are they intended to replace the use of personal phones for personal calls.

3.2 Recommendations for Courtesy Phones in Academic Buildings

ITS will consult with building occupants to determine the quantity and installation locations for Courtesy Phones in academic buildings, based on:

• The distribution of occupants and the size and layout of the building.
• The needs of the building occupants.
• The nature of the services provided in the building.
• The quantity of public traffic in the building.
• The availability of infrastructure to support Courtesy Phones.
• The availability of ITS and/or departmental funding for Courtesy Phones.

Priority consideration for Courtesy Phones will be given to the following locations:

• Areas near classrooms.
• High-traffic spaces near public entrances.
• Shared workspaces and other common areas where cellular coverage is poor, and a shared computer is unavailable.
• Where infrastructure and funding will allow, ITS will seek to include at least one Courtesy Phone on every occupied floor of every academic building.

3.3 Recommendations for Courtesy Phones in Residence Halls

• Residence halls should have at least one Courtesy Phone in each building.
• ITS and University Residences will collaborate on the location for residence hall Courtesy Phones, including dining facilities.

4. Authority

1. ASME A17.1-2019 / CSA B44-19  ‘Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators.’  
2. NFPA 72
3. WAC 296-800-11010  Provide and use means to make your workplace safe.
4. POL-U5950.01  Health, Safety and Environmental Protection
5. POL-U5950.03 Preparing for and Responding to University Emergencies

5. References

1. Council, N. R. (2011). Prudent Practices in the Laboratory: Handling and Management of Chemical Hazards. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
2. EHS Safety Documents and Plans

Change Log