Physical Plant workers fix carbon monoxide problem in The Main

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

A carbon monoxide scare in The Main caused the eatery to be evacuated for 45 minutes Tuesday and the Physical Plant to install carbon monoxide detectors in the kitchen, said Richard Oliver, assistant director of facilities.

Fred Dement, director of catering, said due to the strong winds from the storm Monday night, the fumes from the natural gas-burning stoves, which are normally sucked out of the building through overhead fans, were pushed back inside.

The kitchen workers noticed the natural gas odors at about 6:45 a.m., after which the building was evacuated and the fire department called. Dement said that the fumes had dispersed 45 minutes later, and The Main was reopened.

“The fire department took measurements (of carbon monoxide), and at the highest level they found, you can work up to eight hours in,” Oliver said. “We have maintenance installing two carbon monoxide detectors — which are not required — just to be on the safe side.”

David Mestemaker, assistant director for resources for the Physical Plant, said the Physical Plant and Residential Services handle about 60 of these kind of functional problems a day.

Mestemaker said that last week, 335 work orders were logged for the entire campus. In one day, 71 complaints were logged.

Walter Redding, control specialist for the Physical Plant, said the Physical Plant has 126 active personnel positions, including administrators. Within the plant, there are six electricians, nine air conditioning and heating specialists, five plumbers, nine finishing workers and 12 general maintenance personnel.

Oliver said the amount of time it takes for repairs to be made depends on the severity of the problem and the staff available.

He said for most residence hall and cafeteria problems, repairs are usually made within 24 hours.

“We really take pride in our maintenance,” Oliver said. “We may not be the Hilton, but we want to get as close to it as possible.”

Redding said the Physical Plant handles all building and other university work orders in three stages.

Mestemaker said, emergency problems are handled immediately.

Oliver said if the problem with the carbon monoxide fumes had been a fan failure, it would have been considered an emergency work order for the Physical Plant, but no repairs were needed.

Redding said an example of an urgent work order would be a toilet overflowing or a clogged sink.

Mestemaker said routine maintenance such as desk drawer repair or the relocation of a plug is scheduled for the first available time period within 30 days.

“If it’s a window blind, it may take three to four weeks if we don’t have the parts,” Redding said. “If it’s an electrical outlet system, and we have the parts, it may be fixed overnight.”

Larry Garrison, director of facility services, said old and new buildings may not use the same parts, but the Physical Plant is standardizing the parts as renovations of buildings continue.

“Different companies make the same thing, so we’re trying to limit the parts we use to a certain number so we can keep them in stock and increase response time,” Garrison said.

Oliver said a weekly review of work orders is done to see which projects have not been completed and why. He said that in recent weeks, only one complaint was made about a work order not being completed soon enough.

“If a work order is not completed, it is probably because it has not gone through the right channels,” Oliver said.

Alisha Brown
a.k.brown2@student.is.tcu.edu