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tegyrius11 hours at work today. We activate the school's emergency operations center for major move-in days because of the scale and complexity of the operation in the field. 50+ officers on traffic control, several hundred employees and volunteers wrangling parking and carts and check-in and all the other details, food and water and communications support for all of those people... it gets big.
My job in the EOC is operations manager - basically the same as it was at my last workplace, but with a bit more autonomy. I'm supposed to know enough about the field operation and the other people in the room to know who to put in position to solve which problems. I also have to maintain situational awareness over the room and the field and handle radio communication with the field folks.
So for most of that 11 hours, I was running in about a 5- to 10-minute cycle that went something like:
Check weather radar on one big screen to see if we're about to get hit with a pop-up.
Check separate lightning tracking system on a second big screen to see if we have any active thunderstorms in the region.
Take a help line call from an incoming freshman (or freshman's parent) who doesn't know what residence hall he's supposed to move into today. Wonder aloud about the likely academic success of someone who drives to campus without knowing where he's supposed to put his stuff.
Check the tracking system on a third big screen for numbers of students moved in through each residence hall and unloading zone.
Tab over to one of three different sites with move-in info to look up information for one of my colleagues who's answering the move-in help lines.
Check the fire department dispatch board on a fourth big screen for any runs on or near campus that might have to come through our traffic patterns.
Check security cameras on the left half of the video wall for any indications of issues in the unloading zones or residence hall check-in desks.
Check city traffic cameras on the right half of the video wall for any indications of traffic problems.
Make sure the cops working my assigned sector are okay.
Make sure everyone else working the room has what they need.
Take a help line call from someone who failed to follow instructions and is trying to follow Waze directions into our traffic pattern going the wrong way. Tab over to Google Maps, find their current location, give them turn-by-turn directions to the residence hall inflow streets.
Tab over to a third weather site to check wind gusts. Provide my cops a weather update on the radio.
Listen to the cops report that yet another GPS zombie tried to enter the traffic pattern the wrong way, completely ignoring the orange cones, the cop in the eye-searing fluorescent vest, and the car with badges and red-and-blue flashy lights.
Hydrate.
Repeat.
My job in the EOC is operations manager - basically the same as it was at my last workplace, but with a bit more autonomy. I'm supposed to know enough about the field operation and the other people in the room to know who to put in position to solve which problems. I also have to maintain situational awareness over the room and the field and handle radio communication with the field folks.
So for most of that 11 hours, I was running in about a 5- to 10-minute cycle that went something like:
Check weather radar on one big screen to see if we're about to get hit with a pop-up.
Check separate lightning tracking system on a second big screen to see if we have any active thunderstorms in the region.
Take a help line call from an incoming freshman (or freshman's parent) who doesn't know what residence hall he's supposed to move into today. Wonder aloud about the likely academic success of someone who drives to campus without knowing where he's supposed to put his stuff.
Check the tracking system on a third big screen for numbers of students moved in through each residence hall and unloading zone.
Tab over to one of three different sites with move-in info to look up information for one of my colleagues who's answering the move-in help lines.
Check the fire department dispatch board on a fourth big screen for any runs on or near campus that might have to come through our traffic patterns.
Check security cameras on the left half of the video wall for any indications of issues in the unloading zones or residence hall check-in desks.
Check city traffic cameras on the right half of the video wall for any indications of traffic problems.
Make sure the cops working my assigned sector are okay.
Make sure everyone else working the room has what they need.
Take a help line call from someone who failed to follow instructions and is trying to follow Waze directions into our traffic pattern going the wrong way. Tab over to Google Maps, find their current location, give them turn-by-turn directions to the residence hall inflow streets.
Tab over to a third weather site to check wind gusts. Provide my cops a weather update on the radio.
Listen to the cops report that yet another GPS zombie tried to enter the traffic pattern the wrong way, completely ignoring the orange cones, the cop in the eye-searing fluorescent vest, and the car with badges and red-and-blue flashy lights.
Hydrate.
Repeat.