Weather, Public Health, and Safety Emergencies

Purpose

To establish uniform policy across all DGSOM sites and settings for weather, safety, and public health emergencies in compliance with main campus UCLA polices and procedures.  

1.1 Definitions

  1. 1.1(1) Weather Emergency: Any weather event defined by the National Weather Service as constituting a risk to human safety. Note that local school closures do not necessarily constitute a weather emergency. 

1.2 Policies

  1. 1.2(1) Classroom Activities during Weather or Public Safety Emergencies
    1. (1a) If University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) classroom activities are declared closed due to a weather emergency (as defined by the National Weather service) or a public safety emergency, DGSOM classroom activities will follow guidelines specified by main campus.  
  2. 1.2(2) Clinical Duty during Weather or Public Safety Emergencies
    1. (2a) If a public safety emergency is declared in a municipality where students are participating in clinical course activities, students should be excused from the course until the emergency is over.
    2. (2b) If there is a weather emergency (defined by the National Weather Service) declared in a municipality where students are participating in course activities, students who need to drive to their clinical course site should be excused from the clinical course until the weather emergency is over. 
    3. (2c) Medical students participating in patient care activities are considered non-essential workers in cases of weather emergency and/or public safety emergency. 
  3. 1.2(3) Clinical Activities during Closure of UCLA due to Weather Emergency
    1. (3a) If University of California-Los Angeles is declared closed due to a weather emergency, all DGSOM students are excused from clinical course activities.  
  4. 1.2(4) UCLA Main Campus Decision Making Authority
    1. (4a) The decision to excuse students from classroom or clinical responsibilities is made by main campus in collaboration with the Associate Dean of Curricular Affairs and/or Associate Dean of Student Affairs (or their designees).  
  5. 1.2(5) DGSOM Student Responsibilities
    1. (5a) If a weather or public safety emergency is not declared and a student has a concern regarding their safety in traveling to their clinical site/campus and they will be late or are unable to report for their clinical duties/classroom sessions, they must communicate with their course chair, site coordinator and their clinical team as well as submit an Absence Request Form. 

1.3 Procedures

  1. 1.3(1) Notification of Closure
    1. (1a) The Associate Dean of Curricular Affairs, the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, the Curricular Affairs Office, and/or the Student Affairs Office will notify all students, courses, clerkships, and clinical electives of campus and site closures via school listservs.  

Resources