SPPH Winter Weather Procedures

With winter approaching in Vancouver, please review the following SPPH Winter Weather Procedures:

The decision to suspend onsite services at the School of Population and Public Health due to snow conditions will be made by the School Management Committee. If the School decides to suspend onsite services, we will strive to have the notice posted on our website and social media pages by 7:30 am and on the main SPPH phone line (604-822-2772). Please note, this is dependent on directives and outcomes of decisions received from the Faculty of Medicine. Notices will not be posted during the period December 22, 2023 to January 1, 2024 as the School will be closed at this time. Though a decision may be made to suspend onsite services at one location due to weather/road conditions, another location may not be affected. Affected faculty and staff should work remotely whenever feasible.

It is the responsibility of each manager/director to communicate information to their respective staff to ensure familiarity with the School’s procedures and an understanding of instructions/procedures as established by your unit.

If the event of that the School decides to maintain some or all onsite services, staff may choose to stay home if they have concerns regarding their safety traveling to and from their workplace and/or child care responsibilities. In such a case, staff should communicate their decision to their immediate supervisor. Where operational requirements permit, we encourage managers and supervisors to be flexible in allowing remote work for their staff that day. Staff who choose to stay home when the School is providing onsite services and who communicate their decision in accordance with the School’s plan, may use banked time or vacation time for the day, make arrangements to make up the time, take a day of unpaid leave, or work remotely (if feasible and at the discretion of the manager).

In the event a decision is made by the School Management Committee to suspend onsite services early (work day already in progress) due to snowy conditions, staff will be allowed to go home early and will not be required to make up the time or use vacation time, etc. In the event the School decides to maintain onsite services, staff who choose to leave work early because of concerns regarding their safety traveling from the workplace may use banked time or vacation time, make arrangements to make up the time, take an unpaid leave, or arrange to work remotely for the day (if feasible and at the discretion of the manager).

For any situations noted above, classes may be cancelled and announced by public broadcast however, the University and School may remain open.

In the event of heavy snow or an extreme weather event, visit the UBC home page www.ubc.ca  as well as our www.spph.ubc.ca site for details on campus closures.

For more information, please also refer to: Winter Weather Conditions & Protocol and the Faculty of Medicine’s “Disruption of Services” guidelines.

Emergency Information and Messaging

• Everyone is encouraged to sign up for UBC Alerts to receive emergency messaging – there are instructions for Vancouver campus and Okanagan campus.
• Also refer to UBC Campus Notifications (Vancouver & Okanagan) and UBC Faculty of Medicine Closure Information.