Power failures may occur either as a result of UNBC equipment or BC Hydro equipment failures. Unless the weather is extremely severe, electrical power failure is more of an inconvenience than an emergency.

The UNBC Prince George Campus is equipped with emergency generators that will maintain power to designated areas of campus for an extended period of time. In addition, some emergency lighting units throughout the campus employ a battery pack design and will last for up to two hours without recharge.

During this period, efforts will be made by both the Facilities and Safety departments to determine the cause of the outage and the expected duration. If the power outage is expected to be lengthy, UNBC’s Executive team will be informed and a decision will made by the President as to whether operations need to be suspended until the power supply is returned.

Campus Operations

Until the decision to close campus is announced, the University is to be considered open and operations should continue.

Any closure notification will be communicated through push notifications on the UNBC SAFE app, UNBC home page, social media channels (twitter, Facebook) and by notification to local radio and TV media outlets as well as announcements on campus through supervisors.

What should you do if there is a power outage?

• If safe to do so, unplug any voltage sensitive equipment, especially if it is not connected through a surge protector, to prevent damage when power is restored.
• Do not attempt to use the elevators; they should automatically return to the ground floor and the doors will remain open.
• Any laboratory or scientific experiment underway at the time of the power failure needs to be terminated in the most expedient manner without endangering the persons involved.
• Power failures do not render the telephone system inoperative; it is equipped with a battery back-up system and the generators. Certain display type telephones may not function as they normally would without electrical power (e.g. Displays and or ringers may not function).
• If you have safety concerns, please report them to security and/or the safety office.
• Report any urgent maintenance requests/issues to facilities management