What to Do in a Public Safety Incident, University Style
The now incredibly badly-run university at which I was employed for 42 years just keeps topping itself. As I have mentioned before, I continue, as a retiree, to be on all sorts of official administrative email lists. This means I get some amount of unwanted email which is, at times, both interesting and illuminating.
Such happened yesterday, July 30. I got an email with Public Safety Incident in the subject box, and this message:
To all Western. A Gas Leak is occuring[sic] at Chemistry Building. Leave the area or stay away as required for your safety. Issued by Western Special Constable Service. ^no
Thank you,
Alert WesternU
Campus Safety & Emergency Services, Western University
The time stamp on this email was 6:44pm, and had I been in my old-guy office in SSC, even though some distance from the Chemistry building, I would have been happy to have been so alerted, by whomever, even with a minor mis-spelling. As it happened, I was at home, so no worries.
However, here’s a thing. The email address from whence came this alert was:
um, that means it came from a commercial enterprise in The United Kingdom. That seemed odd to me, but not as odd as this. While the above was the sending address, the ‘reply-to’ name said it was from Alert Western U, but the ‘reply to’ email address was:
0625a7bf-0005-3000-8007-8be52242fed2@notify.cem.onsolve.eu
Ok, now that is in the European Union. An email with a a sent address that is in a different country than the reply to address? Does that say ‘scam’ or ‘phishing’ or something sinister to you?
It does to me, but I was not instructed to ‘click here’ or send my banking info anywhere, and yet – what the hell? Is UWO really farming out its emergency alert system to a company across the Atlantic? Really?
Well wait, it gets better.
At 7:10pm I got another email that said this (these are exact copies of the messages):
To all Western. A At this time the leak has been contained to Room 002 in the Chemistry Building. There is no threat to personal safety. Please continue to avoid the area as the London Fire Department is still on scene venting the area. is occuring[sic] at Room 002 Chemistry Building. Leave the area or stay away as required for your safety. Issued by Western Special Constable Service. ^^NO
Thank you,
Alert WesternU
Campus Safety & Emergency Services, Western University
So – whaddya think? Is there now no threat to my personal safety as of 7:10, or is it still ‘is occuring[sic]’ and I should leave the area or stay away as required?
What about that more emphatic ‘^^NO’ rather than just ‘^no’ at the end, is that a clue?
I could have written to that ‘reply to’ address for clarification, I suppose, but I was kinda doubting those folks in the EU would be of any help in the highly unlikely event that they answered at all. I mean, everyone over there is in bed by then, pretty much.
So, I remained somewhat perplexed, and doubly glad I was not actually anywhere on campus.
However, clarification was soon to come from the fine folks at mir3.co.uk. At 8:30pm I received the following email from them –
To all Western. A ALL CLEAR – The liquid nitrogen leak in the Chemistry Building has been contained and the area is now clear. is occuring[sic] at Chemistry Building Room 002. Leave the area or stay away as required for your safety. Issued by Western Special Constable Service. ^^NO
Thank you,
Alert WesternU
Campus Safety & Emergency Services, Western University
So at 8:30 things are not just ‘A’ but indeed ‘A ALL CLEAR’ – all those caps seem pretty reassuring….and yet. It seems that something ‘is occuring and I should Leave the area or….’ ah, bloody hell, you can read it.
This is the current UWO Admin at their slovenly best. Paying some UK company to send out alert notices to a campus thousands of miles away, because some bean-counter somewhere determined they could save some bucks, so as to better spend them on more Assistant VPs. The contract with mir3 does not seem to include any specifications regarding clarity or even spelling, but who cares about that? It’s just emergencies, right, not anything REALLY important.