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Ford's Focus
It's been a while since the last News & Views, so this may be the longest on record.
One new element we've added is an "Asked & Answered" column. Many great questions have come up during our recent Employee Meetings, some of which we've been able to answer on the spot. We're going to share those ideas here, and I hope we'll have even more at our upcoming meetings.
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Safety Record
 Since the last issue we've had six slips and falls due to icy and wet weather conditions. Remember to be extra careful out there in the wind and snow, and also remember to report problem areas to the Work Control Center.
Two injuries were the result of snow removal operations. The first employee dislocated his finger while unloading a 50lb bag of rock salt. The second pulled a shoulder muscle while manually spreading rock salt.
We had twisted knees from vacuuming and pulling coils, a fall down the stairs, a nose injury from 4-inch piping falling off a rack, and a trip and fall over a carpet machine.
 As always, please report all safety hazards, near miss incidents and safety success stories.
Call us at 863-2340.
Visit us, or even drop a note outside our office in 103 Physical Plant.
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Announcements & Reminders
The Mobile Shoe Story will be at OPP next Wednesday and Thursday, March 6-7, from 7 am to 4:30 pm.
PSU Wireless
You may have noticed that PSU wireless has already started to become available in certain parts of OPP and all Area Shops. You can begin using the PSU wireless as soon as it is available. OPP wireless is set to be decommissioned on April 30, 2013. The sooner you switch, the better.
 You will need your Penn State user name and password to connect. (This is the same password you use for time cards, CIS, ESSIC, etc.). For smartphones, tablets or personal laptops, follow the instructions here. Additional information is available in the OPP ITS Self-Help Area. If you need personal assistance, please submit a HelpDesk ticket or call 5-7197. New Tech Service Job Site The implementation of the electronic job vacancy system for technical service positions has been delayed until March 19. In the meantime, tech service employees should take the training and input their personal data-sheets so that they are ready to bid for jobs that will be posted electronically beginning on March 19. The website for the training and system access can be found here.
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Cheers
Cool as Ice
The manager of the Penn State Ice Rink, Chris Whittemore, sent in a special thanks to OPP crew who came to the rescue when one of the rink's electric motors "literally blew up." They pulled the motor, sent it to EMS in Altoona, and got everything back up and running in short order. "Everyone that was involved in this repair worked together as a team and were true professionals."
 Refrigeration Crew: Scott Dreibelbis, Bill Mauk, Rob Troup, Mark Sunderland
Labor Crew: Jim Brown, Gary Moore, Kenneth Reeder, Thomas Stevenson, Steven Lehman
Electrical Crew: Steve Besecker, Daniel Peters
Machinist: Robert Schreffler
Vibration Analysts: Mike Hoy, Robert Gillespie, Patrick Kochan
Full Steam Ahead
John Molnar, Laura Miller and student intern Eric Steinour have been awarded a provisional patent for their invention of an "Expansion Joint Movement Recorder." The idea was the brainchild of John Molnar who envisioned "a simple, innovative device that tells what's happening in the system."
Eric, a mechanical engineering major, put the drawings together, went to the machine shop, built some prototypes and had it field tested on our pipes. Laura helped with the research and the patent process and explains how the pipes use expansion joints to handle expansion and contraction without leaking.
 "Think of it as a big paper towel tube sliding over a little paper towel tube. In the past, crews would remove the insulating blankets to check pipe movements. Now the crew can just walk by the device without unbundling everything and see whether the pipe moved more than it should have."
A Big Deal
Tom Ertsgaard made a special point of recognizing Paulette Rider for her help with the Facility Dynamics MSC Agreement. "We are often so quick to criticize, I want to be sure to make an appropriate big deal about this. I did not expect to receive the results as quickly as I did or as thoroughly complete. What I told Paulette was 'Awesome response-time on that request! THANKS!'"
Big Fans and Tin Knockers in Ag Sci
A normal fan balancing turned into a sacrificed weekend for workers on a fan in Ag Sci. While attaching a balancing weight, workers found a section of air foil blade stuck inside the fan's scroll. The existing fasteners were too rusted to take apart, so removing the air foil and patching the fan back up required sheet metal workers.
 As Steve Garbini described it on Saturday, "The tin knockers are just beginning surgery." The turning vane section was removed and the torn fan casing and fan were patched. "This unit must have been really close to shaking itself apart. Now it makes sense why we couldn't balance the fan."
Raves about Reno
A director of Human Health and Development sent in a rave review of the reno crew who recently completed work in Henderson. "I just wanted to let you know that our conference room looks awesome! Your crews did an excellent job! All were a great bunch. We enjoyed having them hang out here."
Facilities Project Coordinator Matt Leah added " This is a good example of the value Renovations services brings to the table" |
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Welcomes & Farewells
John Gindhart is the new Custodian in District 43. He is new to the University and began work on February 4.
Darren Spotts is the new Facilities Project Coordinator in Design and Construction. He also began work on February 4.
Terry Woodring is the new Utility Maintenance Worker. Terry began work on February 4.
Cody Miller is the new Custodian in District 42. He is new to the University and began work on February 10.
Arick Bitner is the new Utility Maintenance Worker in District 22. He began work on February 10.
Aaron Warefield is the new Area Facilities Maintenance Mechanic. He began work on February 11.
Frank Savino is the new CCS Operator in Environmental Systems. He began work on February 11.
Joseph Ficarro is the new Custodian in District 52. He began work on February 11.
John Miller is the new Custodian in District 33. John began work on February 17.
Robert Couch is the new Custodian in District 42. He began work on February 18.
Daniel Lyons is the new Utility Maintenance Worker in District 62. He transferred from Housing and Food Services and began work on February 24.
David Cassler, Jr. is the new Custodian in District 53. He is new to the University and began work on February 24.
Stephen Harvey is the new Custodian in District 12. He transferred from Hospitality Services and began work on February 25.
Kathy Ebeling is the new Custodian in District 43. She began work on February 24.
Vincent Benner is the new Signs & Barricades Maintenance Worker for Tower Road Landscape. He transferred from the Office of the Vice President for Research and began work on February 25.
Farewells
Tim Souders has left his position as a Utility Maintenance Worker in District 21 to accept a new job at the Nittany Lion Inn on February 24.
Robin Pilosky is leaving her position as a Custodian in District 31 to accept a new job within Intercollegiate Athletics starting on March 3.
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During the course of recent Employee Meetings, employees have asked questions and provided suggestions about what OPP might do to improve its operations.
Commissioning In-House Construction Projects
Environmental Systems employees suggested implementing commissioning in-house construction projects. This led to an e-mail directive to implement this suggestion on all future projects.
Trespassing & Personal Safety
Waste Water Services employees raised concerns about allowable actions regarding trespassers at facilities. Arrangements were made to have Police Services provide a presentation and guidance on how to handle personal safety.
Shop Safety
Area 1 Shop employees identified a specific facility safety concern. Don Fronk agreed to meet with the team and initiate a corrective project.
Elevator Phones
Elevator Systems employees pointed out the need to install phones in roughly 20 elevators. Kathy Bamat initiated a project for installation.
Additional questions can be e-mailed in advance of Employee Meetings to ensure they are addressed.
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What's it like to be...a Utility Systems Engineer?
 If the Super Bowl were held in Beaver Stadium and the lights went out, whom would you call? The correct answer is Dick Harris.
Dick investigates problems in our distribution of electricity, finds the cause, and resolves the problem. He is a bit like Sherlock Holmes and is OPP's master of electric enigmas. Dick is continuing to monitor the Superbowl outage for lessons learned.
Saturday Lights
Electric service reliability for the Stadium continues to be a high-profile aspect of Dick's job. He has attended all home games at Beaver Stadium for the past 35 years and began Stadium work 42 years ago. The last power interruption during a Penn State home game was in 1971. Dick recalls seeing a technician lying on the ground after attempting to check a 12,000 volt circuit with a handheld meter. "This is a major no-no, and counter to all safety procedures...it wouldn't happen today...luckily the technician survived."
Dick's daily work focuses on electrical projects relating to new buildings, design reviews, large renovation projects and occasional utility infrastructure. He works with three computer,s and his first challenge every morning is to remember all the log-in codes for the various entities.
"The distribution system at University Park is similar to that of a small city. We operate sub-stations on Orchard Road, Thompson farm, College Avenue and Patterson Street. Those points of service are all interconnected and can be reconfigured as needed."
Fried Squirrels, Line Slaps and Load Growth
Catastrophic power outages are often cased by animal contact with overhead lines. Dick uses the technical term, "fried squirrel" to better define animal contact. Sometimes bird flocking dynamics play a role. Ten birds might roost together on an overhead line and create a biological short circuit. Other times they cause a physical "line slap" when they all take off together.
 " Air-conditioning is a significant user of energy. Campus air conditioning didn't start until President Walker, and he didn't even allow Old Main to be cooled. Scientists first required air-conditioning for their labs, followed by history professors. Soon everyone wanted air-conditioning, and now it's essential."
OPP has adopted several new technologies to reduce campus electric load. Efficient lighting technology has greatly improved and moved from incandescent to fluorescent and now light-emitting diodes (LEDs). "We have changed out mechanical systems that were installed by the lowest bidder, and our control systems have evolved from pneumatic in the seventies to electrical and electronic control."
"Our big challenge is load growth and meeting the needs of the campus as it evolves. The fact that our load had decreased over the past five years while the campus has expanded by 1.1 million sq. ft. is impressive. Our senior management has invested in planning which has served us well. For the future it would be desirable if we had more on-site generation. This would provide more isolation from national grid issues."
The OPP Lifestyle
Dick is former U.S. Air Force and still brings his military skills and training to bear. He serves on the OPP Hazmat Team and is a long-term volunteer with the Alpha Fire Company. He has worked at Physical Plant for more than 40 years and shows no signs of slowing down. He outlasted Tony Rebuck, his first designated back-up, and Chuck Dobbins is his current back-up. Chuck considers Dick Harris to be a remarkable asset to the University. "Dick has skills in so many areas, we need a six-man team just to keep up with him. OPP is more than a career to Dick, it's a lifestyle!"
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Carpooling
Harrisburg Commute
 An OPP employee is interested in joining or creating a new vanpool from Harrisburg. His work hours are currently 6 am - 4:30 pm Monday through Thursday, but he realizes that he may have to adjust that to accommodate those with a different time schedule, or even operate 5 days instead of four. E-mail krs27@psu.edu if you are interested in joining this vanpool.
Clearfield-Centre Connector
The Area Transportation Authority of North Central Pennsylvania (ATA), which serves Clearfield County, has launched a regional commuter bus service, the Clearfield-Centre Connector, linking Clearfield, Philipsburg and State College earlier this year.
The service, which runs Monday through Friday, provides two trips into State College each morning. Return trips depart from the Bryce Jordan Center (Stadium West bus stop). Registered riders will be eligible to participate in CATA's Guaranteed Ride Home program, which provides up to four rides home annually in the case of emergency. More information is available at www.rideata.com.
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Up for Grabs  FOR SALE: Harley Davidson PRICE: $12,500 CONTACT: Roger Berg E-MAIL: rdb20@psu.edu DESCRIPTION: Harley Davidson 2002 Heritage Soft Tail Classic (FLSTC) 1450cc Twin Cam88B Exhaust system staggered shorty duals, Showroom cond. Under 10,000 miles . Lots of extras. More... Any OPP employee can post an item FOR FREE with their name, department, and e-mail address. |
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EHS Tip of the Week
Many people feel that walking on campus at night is a frightening experience...It need not be.
 The Campus Night Map shows recommended roads and paths for night travel. It shows the location of emergency phones with a direct line to University Police and buildings that are staffed from midnight to 7 am. - Security Escort Service provides walking accompaniment for those who may feel unsafe walking alone. They can be reached at 814-865-WALK (9255)
Night driving only accounts for 25% of all driving, but traffic death rates are three time greater at night than during the day. However, there are several ways to make your drive safer.
Never drive so fast that you are unable to stop within the distance that you can clearly see with your headlights.
- Use your headlights from sunset until sunrise and during periods of rain or snow. PA state law requires all drivers to turn on their headlights when windshield wipers are used.
- If an oncoming driver does not lower their beams, avoid glare by looking toward the white line marking the right edge of the road. Do not retaliate by activating your own high beams as this will only increase the likelihood of an accident.
- Avoid long trips in the dark if possible, and always take regular breaks.
More night driving tips are available from EHS.
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Contact Us
If you have any comments or suggestions for News & Views, contact Alex Novak by e-mail or at 863-0432.
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