After-Hour Emergencies

Department Back-up Freezer, Chemical Spills and Facility Issues (evenings, weekends and holidays)

When the main office is closed, please use the following procedures and contacts in the event of an emergency or building issue requiring immediate response:

  • FOR ALL CASES OF FIRE, EXPLOSION, NEED OF POLICE OR AMBULANCE ASSISTANCE AND LIFE-THREATENING HAZARDOUS-MATERIAL SPILLS: Directly call 911.

  • Non-Life-Threatening Building Emergencies (floods, elevator malfunctions, loss of air pressure, loss of power, etc.): Please call this Campus Police Line: (847-491-3456) and they will contact the correct on-call FM staff.
    • You will need to provide the buildingroom number, and description of the problem in addition to justification for after-hour FM response (i.e. water leak will cause damage to other rooms, or cold room temperature is rising and will ruin valuable research samples). 
    • Additionally, notify the Molecular Biosciences office (e-mail:  molbiosci@northwestern.edu or voice-mail:  847-491-5061) with details of the incident for tracking and follow-up purposes. 
  • Non-Life-Threatening Hazardous Materials Spills: Call Campus Police Line: (847-491-3456) to report spills of chemicals or bio-hazardous materials and request clean up and containment assistance.  They will contact the crew in the Office for Research Safety.  Be sure to subsequently file an incident report with Office for Research Safety:  Safety Incident Report.
  • Report damage to lab equipment and furnishings due to accident or building incident to Risk Management within 48 hours.  According to Risk Management: “No claim will be accepted unless it is reported to the Office of Risk Management within 48 hours of the loss and the Office of Risk Management receives the claim form within 30 days of the loss. Use this link to file an incident:  Risk Incident Report.

  • If you have an emergency and need the department’s back-up –80 freezer, it is located end of the Pancoe 4 South Equipment Corridor.  If you borrow it, please make sure to reserve it in the Room reservation system (it can be found under miscellaneous/Molecular Biosciences –80 Back-up).​