From:
Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] Phones in research labs
Date:
Jan 11, 2023 00:48 UTC
Reply-To:
Monona Rossol <actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com>
Message-ID:
<1994128150.10036009.1673398097028**At_Symbol_Here**mail.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:
<CH0P223MB007411CB9C7AC1B79DC528A48AFF9**At_Symbol_Here**CH0P223MB0074.NAMP223.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM>
I disagree. In the 2003 power outage, everything stopped in early afternoon. All these tall buildings were full of thousands of ordinary folk who now could not get home because the trains and subways weren't working. The tunnels were closed, and hundreds of thousands of people were essentially trapped. We also learned that emergency stair lights fade and die sooner than we thought and many of these people were 50 or 100 floors up. And even if you get to the street, where do you go?
Now THINK for a moment about a wife or husband whose kids are waiting out in the suburbs to be picked up after school and Mom and Dad can't pick them up or even talk to them! Hell, Mom and Dad can't even talk to each other unless they work in the same office. Where are the kids going to go? Whose making sure they are safe? How are they getting their food, medicine, or other needs met?
One of the reasons for the landline requirement was that medical people were needed in these buildings because people, especially parents, were just plain melting down with panic.
You all need to find a way to make sure you can reach others no matter what kind of disaster occurs. And the more ways you have to do this the better. And if the land line is never needed, all the better for you. But pay that damn phone bill.
Monona
-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Glode <andy.glode**At_Symbol_Here**UNH.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Sent: Tue, Jan 10, 2023 3:47 pm
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Phones in research labs
As others are highlighting, having multiple options for communication in the event of an emergency is important. But, I don’t see this as an all or nothing question, that is, whether or not all labs should have phones. A reasonable middle
ground for labs is to install emergency phones in public corridors, away from the hazards, and in other areas where there is limited cell reception, or high hazards. Having a “landline” phone is likely not practical or necessary in every room in an academic
teaching or research laboratory setting.
Andy Glode, MS, CIH
Director, Office of Environmental Health and Safety
University of New Hampshire
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
On Behalf Of Monona Rossol
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2023 3:15 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Phones in research labs
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That's right. And I could even get my email running by using dialup services through the landline during this time. The frame for my land line is on 13th street.
So I had service. but I believe there was one other transfer frame that was damaged in lower Manhattan, and those phones were out.
I also own a beautiful fieldstone farmhouse in a valley in Wisconsin that gets extremely poor reception for cell phones or TVs. And there are no cable services way
out there.
In the past, all this was easy since they knew how to call the hogs and yodel.
Monona
Yes. During 9/11, all cell phone service in Lower Manhattan was lost when the
twin towers fell, and only land lines were able to call emergency service (fire, police, hospital/EMT) personnel. Lesson Learned.
“My safety question is whether research labs are required to have phones? This used to be a requirement for safety reasons, but it is less clear in these days of
ubiquitous cell phones. Our university is switching phone systems and I'm being asked whether we still need these phones in the research labs.”
Best answer is… (you fill in the blank) …
David C. Finster
Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry
Wittenberg University
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