Multnomah County Health Department’s

Hazardous Conditions and Administrative Closures Preparation Procedures

As of November 28, 2007

Countywide Procedures with Health Department notations

Prior to inclement weather:

Note: At this time only Corrections Health employees are designated as essential. More Health Dept. employees may be officially designated as essential.

  • Inform these essential employees of their status and responsibilities.
  • Refresh and distribute departmental call down lists.
  • Remind employees of departmental status notification process. Some departments use call down lists, others use call-in numbers. Be sure they know.

Notes:

The Health Dept. will use three methods to communicate with employees:

    1. Call down lists (Managers/supervisors are responsible for procedures to connect with all their staff).
    2. Health Dept. Operations Status Hotline - 503-988-6543. An informational/instructional message addressing any change to operations (due to inclement weather, etc.) will be recorded at this number and updated as needed for Health Dept. employees.
    3. The Health Dept. will update the internet web site with information. http://mchealth.org/ . This information will be put on the internet site as soon as possible but may be delayed. Try the other methods first.
  • County Emergency Management will monitor the weather conditions. Department Directors (or their designees) will be notified of pending weather events.

Upon the onset of inclement weather:

A Multnomah County Emergency Management planning meeting will be conducted.

Note:

  • This is a County-wide meeting at which Lillian Shirley or her designee will participate. Lillian will contact Department Leadership Team (DLT). DLT will decide which specific Health Department facilities and offices will be open and the level of service based on the Countywide decisions.
  • DLT will start the call down to managers and supervisors; then managers and supervisors to staff.
  • Typically the County Emergemcy Management Planning meeting will be held at 5:15 am and 4:00 pm. The 4:00 pm session will be used to determine if services will be open the following day.
  • In the event that the situation improves or degrades during the evening hours, a decision will be made by 5:30 am and posted to FlashNews (www.flashnews.net) by the Chair’s Office or the Public Affair’s Office. This information is accessed by news organizations throughout the Portland metro area. Departments may access it to update their own phone messages/call down lists.

Administrative Closure Messages and Instructions

When inclement weather or another potential closure is expected on the morning of a business day, every attempt is made to decide about facility closures and schedule changes the evening before. For an unexpected or a less definite situation, every attempt is made to make a decision by 5:30 am. The County’s goal is to make the most appropriate decision for our clients and staff based on the available information.

County staff members collect weather-related data from a range of reliable sources. A network of administrators then decides whether any closures or schedule changes will occur, and arranges for that decision to be relayed to each department, the news media and the County’s internet site (not the MINT) as soon as possible. Each department has developed its own internal notification procedure. If you are not contacted or have obtained no information, offices will open at their regular starting times. Essential employees are expected to report for their regular shift in all but the rarest of situations. Essential employees have been determined by each department or elected official as part of their internal notification process. If you have questions about your department’s notification process, check with your supervisor. Employees are expected to make good faith efforts to get to work unless they are specifically told not to report to work.

During bad weather or other emergencies, one of the following messages may be displayed and broadcast. Explanations of these messages are found below.

  1. “Multnomah County services are closed. Essential employees report.” The County will close public facilities due to the hazardous condition. Pre-defined essential employees are to report to work at their regularly scheduled time.
  2. “All Multnomah County services will open two hours late.” This means County services will open two hours after their regular starting time. Essential employees are expected to report at their regular time.
  3. Geographic differences. The messages above will be altered to include specific information such as, “All Multnomah County facilities east of Interstate 205.” Or “All Multnomah County facilities west of the WillametteRiver…” Facilities will open two hours late or not at all due to geographically specific hazards. Winter weather, for example, occasionally impacts the Gresham area much more severely than downtown Portland. This difference may necessitate the use of such a message.
  4. “Multnomah County facilities and offices open except specifically named buildings or facilities.” Listed facility will be closed for the public only. All employees report.

Personnel Rule 3-15-040 states: An employee who is directed by the county or his/her department not to report for work due to facility closure, delayed opening, and/or conditions described in 3-15-010(B) shall be compensated for regularly scheduled hours until such time as the facility or office reopens and/or the employee is reassigned to another work location.