This shelter causes headaches in UiO

University director Arne Benjaminsen told Uniforum last week that UiO has 24 operational shelters. Today, the rooms are used for completely different things, like archives, storage and fitness rooms — but, according to UiO, they can be cleaned within 72 hours, in line with shelters regulations.

However, the university has more shelters than “operational” shelters, as UiO then admits.

NHM’s “liquor collection” — a collection of thousands of amphibians and reptiles preserved in ethanol, sits in a room according to Research Journal Apollo It is the size of a Kids’ Mini Football Field. Room removed from UiO Shelters overview. The same is true of the orphanage at Chateu Neuf.

Received an oral exemption

Reason for asylum Robert Collette’s house (Museum of Zoology) is not in the UiO overview, because it cannot be prepared within 72 hours, as reported by UiO Uniforum.

– We have a good dialogue with the Civil Defense on this subject, and the Property Department along with NHM is in the process of equipping the room, the Communications Department writes in an email.

During an inspection in 2019, the Estates Department received a verbal mandate to make this shelter operational, without a special deadline. Thus, the Civil Defense understands that this may take time, the Real Estate Department confirms in another email.

Real estate manager John Scoggin wouldn’t estimate how long that might take.

– How long does it take to prepare the room? At best and at worst?

– UiO has annual procedures to check the status of our shelters. We are working to get the last two shelters back in order to meet the preparation requirements within 72 hours. It is too early to say how long this work will take.

Do you want to apologize to the staff at NHM for not being able to use their shelter?

– UiO follows laws and regulations, and we are sorry that we have two shelters that are not in good shape. We are working to correct thiswrites the real estate manager.

Is the war in Ukraine a topic in discussions with NHM on the issue?

– In connection with the war in Ukraine, the real estate department has received some inquiries from employees and others about the place of refuge of UiO. So we have published an overview of UiO shelters, which Uniforum has made a case on before. Like I said, we have an annual review of shelters, regardless of the global situation, Skogen writes.

The goal was to have the room ready by 2020

Two years ago, in February 2020, the Real Estate Department of Civil Defense estimated that the shelter could be ready by the summer of the same year. It appears from an email that Uniforum has been accessed by the Directorate For public safety and emergency preparedness, after UiO stated that the same email is excluded from public access.

A representative of the Civil Defense Real Estate Department writes:

“Oh, Ron! As agreed, I will send you the assessment of the state of the sanctuary at the Zoological Museum of the Botanical Garden at UiO, so that you can enter it into your record. As you can probably see, there are a number of inconsistencies that need to be corrected and it will not come cheap … So now I’m working on a plan to bridge all these inconsistencies. The goal is to have this shelter operational by summer. When this work is complete, I plan to send a report on this as well. I hope this looks good.”

what happened? And why does UiO get so lost in estimating time?

The Real Estate Department’s initial response to Uniforum’s inquiry from Thursday morning is that they have no opportunity to answer “until tomorrow at the earliest”. So Uniforum has chosen to leave the questions unanswered.

The shelter will be dismantled

In the early 2000s, UiO applied for permission to remove the chamber’s sanctuary status. The property manager does not answer yes or no to Uniforum’s question whether it is true that UiO has been rejected:

“We made a request in 2005, but neither NHM nor EA found any answer/disapproval for this,” he wrote.

According to the inspection note, a civil defense inspection of the shelter was conducted in 2019 because the owner “wanted clarification on the arrangement of the areas and the operational status of the room.”

The Civil Defense emphasized in the memo that the room is equipped and built as a haven and must be maintained.

Moreover, it is indicated that the existing shelters must be maintained and maintained in an operational condition and that this is the responsibility of the owner.

Civil Defense: – The note is our response to UiO

In March 2022, the room was still inoperable.

UiO explained to Uniforum that the estate department in 2019 received an “oral dispensation to make this shelter operational, without a special deadline” and that the Civil Defense had “the understanding that this may take time to fix.”

Uniforum contacted the Civil Defense to confirm this. Jon Berntsen, district chief in Oslo and civil defense district in Akershus, notes what UiO has received in writing.

– Can you confirm that the Civil Defense has granted such a verbal exemption and that you are aware that the shelter is still not operational?

The note after the inspection is our response to UiO, says Berntsen.

– UiO’s response to Uniforum leaves the impression that the Civil Defense thinks it is “good” that it takes time to get this shelter?

Nothing was mentioned about her in the note. On the other hand, the area manager says 72 hours preparation time is what controls room usage.

It’s stupid to put fragile things in such a room

But why did NHM fill the shelter with non-transferable content?

Uniforum poses the question to Department Director John Lonphy in the Museum’s Department of Conservation and Research Technologies.

– I don’t know why, but the group has been around since 1970. Then a new cellar was dug under the house and the shelter was built. Then you can say that it is stupid to put fragile things in such a room. Lonvi says, but now they are there.

– Does NHM have any plans to change this?

Our main challenge is that we need new magazines, which is also a priority in UiO’s real estate master plan. So the long-term plan is to move things into new magazines that fit into our collections. Also, storing it in a vault as now is not optimal.

– In the short term, do you have no plans to move the contents of the shelter?

– No, we don’t have it, says Lønnve and asserts that what he is responsible for is the content of the room and not the room itself and its place as a refuge.

What do museum workers do in case of a sudden need for shelter?

In the event of a crisis, life and health come first. Then things are different. In theory, this chamber can also be emptied within 72 hours. But it contains fragile things and most of them will be destroyed.

– It’s like moving Viking ships

A year and a half ago, in October 2020, the so-called wet collections at Colette’s house were the subject of a health, environmental, and safety briefing at the Museum Board. at protocol It states, “An additional point is that the refuge at Collets is now used as a storage for wet collections. NHM was ordered to empty this room so that it could easily be used as a shelter. The case must be investigated. Ethanol vapor is measured twice daily. So far, no results have been obtained regarding these measurements.”

– Is ethanol vapor still measured?

– It is continuously measured and so far there have been no rashes. Lønnve explains that it’s all about fire safety, given the room’s content.

– Would it be theoretically possible to empty the room in 72 hours and use it as a shelter?

– Yes. The risk associated with emptying the room is that the group will then be destroyed. It’s like moving Viking ships. It can also be moved within 72 hours, but not without destroying it. These are our Vikings, as the division commander points out.

Is there a significant fire hazard associated with this room?

– There will always be a fire hazard associated with things stored on ethanol. Here we follow our own regulations.