Working outside normal hours

Normal working hours are defined as 0800 to 1800 Monday to Friday and from 1800 on Monday to 0800 on Monday. Outside these times the following requirements must be observed.

1. A signing in / signing out system is in operation in the Hicks Building, to be used by everyone outside normal working hours. A signing-in book is kept at the main entrance, by the Porter’s Lodge. It is your responsibility to sign in on arrival (remember that you should also go and sign the book at 1800 if you are remaining at the end of the normal working day) and to sign out when you leave.
   
2. Ideally no practical or experimental work that involves a risk of personal accident or injury should be performed out-of-hours. Work out-of-hours should normally be restricted to library work, computing, writing reports and making non-risk observations. However it is understood that on occasions it is necessary to do experimental work out-of-hours, to meet deadlines and to keep up to schedules. In those cases it is recommended that people work in pairs or as an individual in hailing distance of a colleagues (see(f)). It is essential that the Risk Assessment Forms and Safe Working Practice should be fully up-to-date in these cases.
   
3. Carry your U-Card with you at all times, and be prepared to show it if requested.
   
4. Anyone who is working out-of-hours must understand the emergency system and know what to do in the case of fire, accident or other emergency, including the importance of accident reporting. You must therefore have attended Fire Training within the past year and an elementary general safety session (often called “Out-of-Hours training”, which fulfils first aid requirements) within the past three years. It is compulsory for ALL new departmental personnel to attend an Out-of-Hours course, whether or not they intend to work out of hours.
   Where a lecture session or night school class takes place out-of-hours, instead of individual participants signing in and out, the whole group must be signed in and out by the person in charge of the group who will be responsible for the participants in an emergency.
   
5. During the Christmas and New Year holiday the University, and the Hicks Building, is officially closed. Anyone wishing to enter the building during this period must obtain written permission prior to the holiday. You should do this by completing a yellow “permission to enter” form (obtainable from the Departmental Office) and having it signed by the Head of Department. Research Associates and research students must also obtain a signature from their supervisor. You should only undertake the work agreed on the form. You must then ensure that you carry the signed form with you when entering the building. Other public holidays are as normal weekends.
   
6. Nobody should work alone and must, as a minimum, be within shouting distance of a colleague. Except for work in a library or a designated computer multi-terminal room, undergraduates are not allowed to work out-of-hours unless under the direct supervision of a member of staff. If, in exceptional circumstances, the Head of Department sanctions other out-of-hours working for a particular group of undergraduates, he/she must ensure that a risk assessment of the activities has been made and submitted to the Departmental Safety Officer, and that appropriate supervisory and safety measures are in place.
   
7. Apparatus left running overnight must include fail-safe features. Permission must be obtained from the person in charge of the laboratory before equipment is allowed to run through the night or unattended at weekends. An approved card indicating that the equipment is to be left running should be clearly visible on or beside the apparatus concerned. It should bear the names of the person(s) to be contacted in an emergency, at least one of whom should be on the telephone.

Out-of-hours Fire Procedure

On hearing the fire alarm, you must immediately render your equipment safe, leave the building by the nearest safe exit and proceed via the outside of the building to the main entrance. You should sign out if safe to do so, and then proceed to the evacuation assembly point on the concourse outside the Student Union. If it is not possible to sign out in safety, you should ensure that your name is reported to the Fire Service as soon as possible. Those in charge of lectures/classes should sign out (or inform the Fire Service) on behalf of the class, once they have ascertained that everyone in that group is out of the building.