How Emergency Telephone Locations Are Selected

Assumptions

An ad hoc committee formed by Acting Vice Chancellor James Hobson on April 5, 1988, defined the process used to select locations for emergency telephone instruments. The first action taken by this committee was to define the assumptions and guidelines that would govern the development of the process:

1. Emergency telephone systems are designed to enable the users of the system to contact police, rescue or fire personnel in the event of an emergency. These systems are not designed to function as public telephone systems.
2. While emergency telephones do place calls to the Police department, which is responsible for management of the Community Service Organization (CSO) escort service, use of emergency telephones to request escorts is incidental and should not be advertised or encouraged.
3. State of California legislation requires that every coin-operated telephone (payphone) be capable of placing a call to request emergency services (by dialing 911) without the use of a coin. Dispatchers in the campus Police department normally answer telephone calls to 911 initiated on the UCSB campus; occasionally the calls are answered by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. Because UCSB Police dispatchers normally answer calls to 911, payphones can be considered equivalent replacements for the instruments used by the campus emergency telephone system.
4. Sufficient funds are not available to satisfy all requests for emergency telephone instruments. Therefore, criteria need to be developed to determine the appropriate locations for instruments (see next section).
5. The largest campus population would be served by installing instruments at the ground floor level on exterior walls of buildings. The installation of emergency telephones on the interiors of buildings or on exterior walkways above the ground floor would negatively impact the effectiveness of the system.
6. While all buildings on campus are considered "public" and people have access to almost all areas within buildings, in general, most space is used primarily by the department to which that space is assigned. Campus guidelines to department chairs and administrative unit heads have stressed that departments are responsible for the management of their own space and the assurance of the safety of their staffs while occupying that space. This guideline is consistent with campus policies related to safety such as those that require departments to pay the expenses of earthquake-bracing their own bookshelves, and to pay the expenses associated with storage of harmful materials. Therefore, requests for the installation of emergency or pay telephones in space controlled by departments will be processed only if the department requesting the installation agrees to pay all incurred expenses.
7. The committee noted two exceptions to the preceding. Both the Library and the locker rooms of recreational facilities are areas that are used extensively by campus personnel and visitors from the community. Due to the public nature of these facilities and the most important selection criteria (population of the area surrounding the instrument), it was agreed that these areas should have emergency telephones installed.

Criteria for Selecting Locations

Using the above assumptions and guidelines, the committee members developed the criteria which would be used to determine the most appropriate locations for emergency telephones. These criteria, in decreasing order of importance, were identified as:

1. The population of the area surrounding the instrument.
2. The types of services available in the surrounding area; e.g., Dining Commons and the Events Center offer services that attract large numbers of people.
3. The remoteness of the area.
4. The potential hazards of the site.
5. The visibility of the instrument.
6. The ease of access to the instrument.
7. The cost of the instrument installation.
8. The potential for vandalism of the instrument.
9. The cost of installing a public pay telephone versus the cost of installing an emergency telephone instrument.

Location Evaluation Process

The final action of the committee members was to define the process that should be used to review future requests for the installation of emergency telephones. The process is:

1. A request for the installation for a new emergency telephone must be submitted in writing, signed by the requester's department chair or head. The request should include a description of the proposed location and a justification of the need. The request should be sent to the Communications Services Director.
2. The Communications Services Director will review the request for completeness of information and obtain installation cost estimates from Facilities Management. The request will be forwarded to the Public Safety Committee Chair for review in accordance with the criteria for selection of installation locations.
3. The Communications Services Director will communicate the decision on the request to the requester. If the request was approved, the Communications Services Director will secure the funds needed for the installation, and consult with the Small Projects Committee before having the telephone installed.

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