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News

New emergency planning leader refines ideas

Division of Administration and Finance also sees administrative changes, is working to streamline human resource operations on campus

by KIM THAI
The Daily Cougar

UH has appointed new leadership to the Emergency Management Committee and reorganized the Division of Administration and Finance to improve emergency planning and streamline University operations.

Dave Irvin, associate vice president for Plant Operations, said his new role as chairman of the Emergency Management Committee will allow him to refine established disaster contingency strategies. 

"UH, in many ways, is much farther along and has done a lot more planning for universities than others in the country," Irvin said. "We're always trying to improve. I don't want to sound cavalier and say, ‘We're ready for everything.' That's foolhardy. (But) it's not really a case of having to start from scratch. It's more of evolving and continuing and figuring out how we can improve."

Irvin plans to implement many projects before June 1, which marks the start of hurricane season. His aims include generating more telecommunication capacity for the central computing system, adding emergency generators and window protection to general service buildings, ensuring the ability of KUHF/KUHT and Hofheinz Pavilion to provide storm shelter, and improving residential emergency plans so students living on campus will have shelter and power during a disaster.

Irvin is also coordinating a design plan with the College of Architecture to draft ideas for a possible emergency center for the city that would be located on campus.

Construction and design standards have changed to conserve energy and develop sturdiness and serve a pivotal role in emergency planning, Irvin said. 

"We're taking a hard look at our facilities and how do we upgrade them so that if we're hit with a major disaster, we have the ability to have buildings that can bounce back quickly -- not in a few places, but in large areas," Irvin said.

Communication with the University community are other areas that Irvin will concentrate on by enlisting support from outside sources. 

Mirrored Web sites will be hosted in Seattle, Chicago and Lubbock so that if Houston is hit by a disaster, communication will be maintained. 

Partnerships with the Texas Medical Center might play a role in emergency planning by providing personnel to the University if needed, and also to give special diagnoses and treatments for more remote emergencies such as a bird flu outbreak or a chemical spill. 

"If the city is struck by a natural disaster, what does that mean to us? How can we best help the city? (Are) they looking for more medical facilities or just a place for evacuees to go?" Irvin said. "It's more of a case of thinking through what kind of contingencies or scenarios might happen and trying to put things in place to whatever the need or cause might be."

In addition to revised emergency plans, the Division of Administration and Finance has been reorganized, and the human resources director now reports to Jim McShan, the associate vice president for finance. The human resources assistant vice president position has been eliminated. 

The change will also move human resources and payroll under the same leadership, which will improve effectiveness and communication for staff, McShan said. 

"The two functions need to closely coordinate a great deal of their daily activities," McShan said. "This coordination was a little more difficult with each department under separate leadership. As a result, I believe we will be able to make improvements in processes between the two areas that will increase efficiency."

The division will spend the semester reviewing operations, which will include gaining understanding of daily human resources activities and eliminating "red tape" and other factors that impede the department's productivity, McShan said. 

"We will then develop plans and strategies to make improvements where opportunities are identified," he said. "This is not to say that areas within HR are not functioning adequately, but I believe in continually striving to improve everything we are doing in the administrative areas of the University." 

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