Getting Ready for “Snow”

By Ray Dumas

"Snow" is a simple word that conjures up a wide range of images from beautiful landscapes, being in a warm house looking out at the snow falling, kids having fun sledding and building snowmen. To others, the landscape shows ice and snow on power-lines and trees that may lead to power outages, plowing of snow in low visibility weather and sanding of icy roads, stuck cars and accidents, or the sudden need for day care for kids out of school.

Before too long we will encounter winter conditions. Some we can plan for based on weather forecasts, and others that develop quickly or unexpectedly. We provide the following information to make this as painless as possible:

• You can check the operating status of the Technical Center by calling 609-485-6100 or by checking the Center's website, http://www.tc.faa.gov/ops/closings.htm. For storms during the night, we make every effort to decide at 5:00 a.m. about delayed openings, or if conditions are so severe, to close the Center to all but essential personnel.
• Calls to the Operations Center and the Security Console should not be made, as these lines need to remain clear for emergency situations.
• On arrival, if there are limitations on where to park, the Guard at the gate will inform you.
• If significant weather conditions are developing during normal working hours and a liberal leave policy will be encouraged, information will be provided over the PA system.
• Federal employees need to get their supervisor's approval to take leave; contractor employees need to obtain the approval from their own contract manager.

Personnel and organizations responding to severe weather conditions on the Center are All Star Services (the Center Operations and Maintenance Contractor) and Fresh Cut (their snow removal subcontractor). These personnel have contract-defined work to do, with major roads and parking lots amongst the top priorities. During a storm event, the contractor maintains a Command Center to orchestrate the detailed assignments to the crews doing the snow removal and sanding work. They can be reached at 5-6078 during a storm event and up to four hours afterwards.

Inevitably, after a storm passes through, there are litanies of odds and ends that remain unattended or need to be redone. You can assist us by reporting things that need attention by contacting the Trouble Desk at 5-4122 or via e-mail to 9-ACT-TROUBLEDESK/ACT/FAA.

Constructive feedback is always welcomed and is best communicated to Jim Woerner, the contract COTR.