Cooling issues continue in the Comms Facility this week

August 14, 2023

As some of you may be aware the Communications Facility (CF) building has experienced some cooling issues recently; the Facilities Management (FM) team continues to work to resolve these issues.

With this week’s forecasted weather heat event these cooling issues may be felt more widely than during more moderate temperatures. Current forecasts indicate that Monday through Thursday of this week we may experience temperatures in the mid-80s.

Out of an abundance of caution, Western encourages those located in CF to consider finding alternative options to working in the CF building should the temperatures be uncomfortable this week, Aug.14-18.Western is working with the deans of the building's impacted departments to determine appropriate actions to address this heat event while FM addresses CF’s cooling issues, and supervisors and staff should work together to determine appropriate actions to mitigate any elevated impact during this time as well.

Some of the potential options shared by WWU Environmental Health and Safety are:

  • Flexible work schedules to allow for work during cooler hours.
  • Temporary movement of work to a cooler area.
  • Allowing the worker to take appropriate leave time.
  • Teleworking.
  • Relaxing professional dress expectation (without compromising required PPE or other safety gear required for the job).
  • Purchase of fans for the work area (Note: Personal air conditioners require a great deal of electricity to operate. Due to the concern of electrical overload on building systems and the subsequent impact to the safety of occupants, personal air conditioners are not a viable option.)
  • Purchase of evaporative clothing accessories such as bandannas or hats.
  • In the case of medical need, formal medical accommodation should be discussed with HR.

Know that Western is monitoring both the CF cooling issues and this week’s heat event and will provide additional updates as necessary.

For questions or support please contact: Facilities Management at fixit@wwu.edu / 360-650-3420 or Emergency Management & Business Continuity at emergency.management@wwu.edu / 360-650-3622.

See related: Heat Advisory in place Aug. 14-15