HGSE Health and Safety
Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is committed to providing and maintaining a safe, compliant, and healthy campus for its employees, students, staff, and the community it serves.
In this commitment, HGSE partners with the Environmental Health and Safety Department (EH&S) in areas where dedicated technical, operational, and managerial support is needed. It is our goal to maintain campus and workplace safety and regulatory compliance programs that are exemplary models for the University and a reflection of Harvard’s enduring commitment to the safety and well-being of its entire community, including students, employees, faculty, staff, and the surrounding environment.
Work orders are monitored and addressed by HGSE Operations personnel, who also conduct routine safety walkthroughs to address emerging conditions and reduce risk. In partnership with HGSE, a Designated Safety Officer from Harvard EH&S conducts routine building inspections that evaluate compliance with regulatory and other requirements related to EH&S. In addition, EH&S and HGSE will periodically coordinate emergency evacuation drills at HGSE buildings. EH&S reports findings from these exercises and recommends corrective actions.
EH&S/GSE partnership areas also include:
Workplace accident, injury, or illness investigation and follow-up.
- Assigning and delivering EH&S training.
- Monitoring and responding to regulatory changes.
- 24/7/365 Emergency Response.[JA1]
Fires Safety
Fire safety and prevention are everyone’s responsibility. Exercising common sense and observing the University’s fire safety rules and guidelines helps to ensure personal safety as well as the safety of students, staff, and visitors. Immediately evacuating a building when its fire alarm sounds is a good example.
- Review the emergency evacuation plan(s) for the buildings that you spend time in. These can be found on the EH&S website and this GSE Safety Page:
- Save emergency phone numbers in your device.
- Walk your building, following exit signs, to determine all the available egress routes. At the same time, familiarize yourself with the location of nearby fire alarm pull stations and fire extinguishers.
- Determine the meeting/muster point for the buildings that you frequent. These are chosen deliberately to keep people safe but also to maintain access to the building for emergency responders.
- Be familiar with your building’s street address. When calling 911 from a mobile device, be prepared to provide the street address of the building you are in. Giving building names will delay the response.
- Notify the operations department of any exit signs that are not properly lit and visible.
If you discover a fire:
- Activate the nearest fire alarm pull station. These are typically located near exits and egress paths.
- Notify anyone around you of the need to evacuate.
- Crawl close to the floor if there is heavy smoke or fumes.
- Do not open a door if it feels hot; there may be fire on the other side.
- Never use elevators during an evacuation, as they may fail and trap occupants.
What to do during a fire alarm:
- Treat every alarm activation as an actual emergency. Do not waste time trying to determine if an alarm is due to a drill, emergency, or a false alarm.
- Immediately stop what you are doing and begin your evacuation without collecting personal items, packing bags, heading to the restroom, or mingling with others.
- Evacuate the building safely if you are physically able to do so:
- Close doors (do not lock in case there are others behind you or you have to return) and windows behind you (this will slow the progress of a fire and hasten the activation of fire sprinklers, if equipped).
- If you see anyone attempting to use the elevator, remind them to take the stairs.
- Go to the closest exit/fire-rated stairwell, exit the building quickly, and move all the way to the building’s designated meeting site.
- While evacuating yourself, you may assist in the orderly evacuation of the building. But never enter dangerous areas or place yourself at risk while doing so.
- Direct others to leave immediately by following exit signs to their nearest exit.
- Gather relevant information as you exit and communicate to emergency personnel.
- Shelter in place if you are unable physically to evacuate:
- Shelter in place in a pre-determined “area of refuge” (i.e., a space equipped with fire sprinklers or in a fire-rated stairwell). Keep the door closed and place a towel or other object along the bottom of the door to help prevent smoke from entering the space you’re sheltering in. (See Occupants in need of assistance below.)
- If you are trapped, close and seal the doors and call 911, then signal for help from the outside, if possible. If there is smoke, open a window or lay on the floor where breathing is easier.
- Call the Harvard University Operations Center and inform them of your location.
What to do after an evacuation:
- Any safety issues or problems experienced or observed during an evacuation (i.e. obstructed egress paths, poor lighting, etc.) should be immediately reported to the building manager.
- Facility and building managers may periodically send out email communications regarding the reason for the alarms or evacuations.
Fire Prevention and Preparedness:
- Monitor housekeeping—look out for excessive storage.
- Maintain a clearance of 18” around fire sprinklers. Keep the area in front of fire extinguishers and alarm pull stations free of storage.
- Ensure fire doors are not wedged open. Fire doors often have a label on the edge, top, or bottom. Ask your building manager which doors can be wedged before doing so.
- Ensure emergency exit pathways are accessible and free from storage.
- Communicate problems and concerns to your supervisor and/or building manager.
- If your building has ceiling tiles, notify your building manager if any are missing, stained, or damaged. These help to hasten the activation of smoke detectors and fire sprinklers (where equipped).
- Only use electrical devices that are tested by a third-party laboratory, such as ETL or UL, and with the approval of the operations department. Do not use portable heaters.
- Activate the nearest fire alarm pull station. These are typically located near exits and egress paths.
- Notify anyone around you of the need to evacuate.
- Crawl close to the floor if there is heavy smoke or fumes.
- Do not open a door if it feels hot; there may be fire on the other side.
- Never use elevators during an evacuation, as they may fail and trap occupants.
- Treat every alarm activation as an actual emergency. Do not waste time trying to determine if an alarm is due to a drill, emergency, or a false alarm.
- Immediately stop what you are doing and begin your evacuation without collecting personal items, packing bags, heading to the restroom, or mingling with others.
- Evacuate the building safely if you are physically able to do so:
- Close doors (do not lock in case there are others behind you or you have to return) and windows behind you (this will slow the progress of a fire and hasten the activation of fire sprinklers, if equipped).
- If you see anyone attempting to use the elevator, remind them to take the stairs.
- Go to the closest exit/fire-rated stairwell, exit the building quickly, and move all the way to the building’s designated meeting site.
- While evacuating yourself, you may assist in the orderly evacuation of the building. But never enter dangerous areas or place yourself at risk while doing so.
- Direct others to leave immediately by following exit signs to their nearest exit.
- Gather relevant information as you exit and communicate to emergency personnel.
- Shelter in place if you are unable physically to evacuate:
- Shelter in place in a pre-determined “area of refuge” (i.e., a space equipped with fire sprinklers or in a fire-rated stairwell). Keep the door closed and place a towel or other object along the bottom of the door to help prevent smoke from entering the space you’re sheltering in. (See Occupants in need of assistance below.)
- If you are trapped, close and seal the doors and call 911, then signal for help from the outside, if possible. If there is smoke, open a window or lay on the floor where breathing is easier.
- Call the Harvard University Operations Center and inform them of your location.
- Any safety issues or problems experienced or observed during an evacuation (i.e. obstructed egress paths, poor lighting, etc.) should be immediately reported to the building manager.
- Facility and building managers may periodically send out email communications regarding the reason for the alarms or evacuations.
- Monitor housekeeping — look out for excessive storage.
- Maintain a clearance of 18” around fire sprinklers. Keep the area in front of fire extinguishers and alarm pull stations free of storage.
- Ensure fire doors are not wedged open. Fire doors often have a label on the edge, top, or bottom. Ask your building manager which doors can be wedged before doing so.
- Ensure emergency exit pathways are accessible and free from storage.
- Communicate problems and concerns to your supervisor and/or building manager.
- If your building has ceiling tiles, notify your building manager if any are missing, stained, or damaged. These help to hasten the activation of smoke detectors and fire sprinklers (where equipped).
- Only use electrical devices that are tested by a third-party laboratory, such as ETL or UL, and with the approval of the operations department. Do not use portable heaters.