The Safety of Your Office, Your Work and Yourself

Okay, this post isn’t about our teaching. It is, however, about us and our safety.

We are an urban campus. Although we feel relatively safe in our offices, it’s a good idea to be vigilant to protect our valuables (e.g., computers, purses, phones, pdas), our work, and particularly ourselves. Crime occurs when we least expect it. Here are some guidelines we follow in our building at 86 Wentworth that I’d like to share with you.

Lock your main building door behind you when entering early/late and when leaving.

Never place anything in the building door to hold it open. You may forget to move that obstacle when you leave, allowing access to the building.

Let someone know immediately if there is someone suspicious in your building.

While working early, late, on weekends, lock your personal office door after you enter.

Contact Public Safety with concerns or for a walk to your car if it’s late or dark. Be sure the telephone number to Public Safety is handy.

Lock your office when you go to class or when you leave your office and no one is there to monitor who enters and exits.  Laptops look alike and it’s not unusual to see people walking around with one. What if it’s YOURS??!!

Remember that would-be thieves know the “old purse in the back of the bottom drawer” trick. Doesn’t take long to enter an office, open a drawer, and leave. It can happen while you are in the restroom.

Don’t put your laptop, phone, purse, or other valuables down anywhere on campus and walk away. Your possessions can walk away, too.

Turn your office computer off when leaving for the day to save energy and prevent others who may enter your office from accessing your work.

Set your computer to start the screensaver after a period of inactivity and require a password when the mouse is moved to start it again.

This is not the “end all” of safety lists, but the point here is to take care of ourselves while at work.

On a humorous note, here’s someone we could use to watch out for us at work–someone impersonating a drink machine.