Responsibilities

The individual with overall responsibility in an incident is the Director of Animal Facilities (AF) or the Director's designee (e.g., supervisor or animal caretaker). The Director of AF or designee coordinates the overall AF response in an emergency or disaster. Within AF, the ranking representatives of each functional area are responsible for coordinating efforts within their section with the overall AF efforts to deal with the emergency or disaster.

Facilities Covered

All animal housing areas under management of AF are covered by this plan, whether within the UM Vivarium or on campus. The AF directly manages responses to centrally-operated facilities. Facilities operated by individual investigators with AF oversight are covered under the same principles, but the individual investigators are responsible for coordinating additional resources needed to handle emergencies, as advised by AF and other University units.

Communications

In the event of an emergency or disaster, the individual who discovers or is advised of the situation immediately reports the problem to the Head of their Section or immediate supervisor. If that person cannot be contacted, then any Section Head available should be contacted. In an acute emergency endangering human life, staff communicates to each person on site to protect co-workers. In a less acute emergency, the ranking Supervisor takes charge until the threat to human life has been addressed. As soon as possible, the problem is then reported to the Director of AF or the Director's designee, who then determines additional communications. Individuals encountering human life-threatening conditions where time is critical, such as a fire or hazardous materials spill, must immediately notify the unit responsible for handling the emergency (e.g., University Police at 4-911); then they notify their Supervisor or the Director/designee. If the problem arises after normal hours, then the Veterinarian on-call and the Supervisor on-call are notified. In a serious emergency or disaster (e.g., one which endangers the lives of personnel or animals), all Section Heads are contacted. They are informed of the problem, the plan for dealing with it, and their role in responding. If the situation arises after normal work hours, the head of each unit is responsible for mustering additional members of their staffs if they are needed. In the event of an interruption in normal communications, alternate methods (FAX, email, hand delivery of messages) may be employed — see Section 25.10 Phone/Paging System Outage below.

Security

Security systems vary between facilities. In the event of an emergency or disaster, these systems may need to be over-ridden temporarily to allow access to response teams. As soon as safe conditions have been established and animal welfare addressed, security will be given a high priority. University Police units are notified if normal animal facility security has been breached and they, along with AF personnel, will formulate a plan to restore or supplement compromised security. This may include posting guards or monitors at facility doors or temporarily closing facilities to non-essential traffic. Changes in security procedures should be posted on facility entrances or animal room doors and communicated to investigators as early as is practical.

Emergency Evacuation

In the event of an evacuation of an animal facility during working hours (such as due to a fire, hazardous material spill, or other emergency) the following principles apply:

1. Personnel are not to endanger themselves or others by delaying an ordered evacuation.
2. Personnel should do their best to alert others as they evacuate the premises.
3. To the extent they can do so without delaying their evacuation, personnel quickly turn off or shut down equipment as they leave. This avoids creating additional hazards of unattended equipment.
4. On-site personnel employ their professional judgment for handling animals which are anesthetized, or undergoing surgery or nonsurvival procedures from which they might awaken if left unattended. Animals undergoing surgical procedures can be evacuated (small animals) along with the personnel, or they can be euthanized, or they can be left on anesthesia machines, however, every reasonable effort should be made to ensure animals will not awaken in severe pain and that personnel are not delayed from evacuating the premises promptly.
5. Each Animal Facility section has established a procedure whereby all section members meet at a set location after an evacuation in order to determine that personnel have cleared the facility and to await the all-clear signal to return.

Declared Emergency by the University Administration

If the University Administration declares an emergency, the campus is closed except to those that have a special identification badge. All Animal Facility staff have a special identification badge.

Emergencies Covered by the Plan (details given below)

1. Air handling problems: loss of supply or exhaust
2. Bomb threat
3. Break in
4. Chemical/radiation spill
5. Electrical power outage
6. Fire
7. Flood
8. Phone or Paging System outage
9. Protests/picketing/strike
10. Snow storm/blizzard/Ice storm
11. Temperature problems (hot or cold)
12. Tornado or severe storm
13. Water supply interruption
14. Miscellaneous other emergencies or disasters

Overview of Animal Care and Support Needs (see specific emergency for details)

1. Animal health checks and health maintenance. Animals should be checked daily to confirm they are healthy. These observations may be performed by qualified Animal Facility (AF) personnel or others. Observations of abnormalities or treatment of sick animals must be handled by consultation by the Attending Veterinarian.
2. Food and water supplies. Food and water are critical to maintaining animal health. The appropriate food for the species and research needs, in adequate quantities, in unadulterated form, is the goal of this plan. If the usual food is not available, professional judgment must be applied to identify acceptable substitutes which are available. Water is especially important, as most animals can survive for several days with little food, but may succumb within 1-2 days without water. Water must be potable and, ideally, delivered in the same form (acidified, autoclaved, etc.) as normal. Some species are especially sensitive to food or water deprivation (e.g., squirrel monkeys, immature animals) and should be given special attention.
3. Sanitation. For purposes of animal health, animal welfare, and support of research, adequate sanitation must be provided. Cages of some species must be changed often (e.g., large animals like dogs, cats, monkeys) while others may go several days without inducing health or environmental problems. The goal of this plan is to approximate normal sanitation schedules with available resources. Increasing cage change intervals, spot cleaning instead of whole-cage changes, changing bedding instead of cage changes, hand washing of some equipment, or deferring activities such as floor mopping may be required. The Facility Director and Director/designee decide which sanitation activities are performed in order to provide the greatest benefit to the animals if it is not possible to perform all normal activities due to unusual conditions.
4. Environmental support (ventilation, temperature control, utilities). Maintenance of an appropriate environment is essential to the well-being of animals and for many research projects. Ventilation problems may include loss of or diminished air supply or exhaust, loss of pressure differentials in critical areas, unacceptable temperature variations, contamination with agents such as chemicals or smoke, or loss of utilities such as electricity needed for lights or powered equipment (e.g., hoods, autoclaves, ventilated racks). Ventilation problems will be dealt with by Facility Director and/or Director/designee, with goals of: maintaining at least some air movement in animal housing spaces, sustaining air pressure differentials in the barriers and BHZ (if possible), and keeping temperatures as close to the acceptable range as is possible. The minimal standard is to prevent animal deaths or contamination of the environment.
5. Personnel to provide animal care. Personnel with adequate training are essential to maintaining animal colonies. They may be unable to work in facilities due to damage or dangerous conditions, physical obstructions (snow storm or chemical spill nearby), or interruption of work (bomb threat, picketing, etc.). Section supervisors will deploy available personnel to maintain animal health and well-being under the direction of the AF Director or the Director's designee. Personnel may be asked to perform duties outside the scope of their normal responsibilities in order to protect animal health or well-being.