2008 Woodie Awards
Managing Crises, Martino Talks Safety with The Observer
Hilly Krieger
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: News
The Observer sat down with Mr. William Martino to discuss the university's expanded attempts at emergency preparedness.
HK: What is your official title?
WM: Director of Manhattan Campuses Housing Services. I was hired to this position last summer.
HK: What are some of the tasks encompassed by this position?
WM: In the summer, I was placed in charge of the renovation of over thirty apartments on the Wilf Campus that were to be used for married couple housing. We enhanced the living spaces and made them more habitable for those living there. The apartments are located in buildings on 182nd Street and 184th Street. However, the big project that I was charged with was to revamp housing administratively. In the last couple of months, we have created a better system to handle housing and the various issues that crop up in the realm of housing.
HK: I understand that you have extensive experience in fire safety. How does that play a role at Yeshiva University?
WM: I was a crisis manager at New York University, where I mostly dealt with issues relating to student health and safety. This role is somewhat different at YU, given that at NYU we would have about a hundred emergency transports of students to the ER for drug and alcohol problems every year. At Yeshiva, we don't have even a tenth of the problems as at NYU, but there are areas in need of improvement in the fire safety realm here. I am especially focusing on policy implementation and what we will and will not allow in the residence halls to prevent fires. We are working to create consistency between the campuses on rules governing what is permitted in the rooms and what should be banned. There also seems to be some lack of student knowledge of fire protocol, responding to fire alarms, and evacuating a building quickly and safely.
HK: How will you change the way fire drills are handled here?
WM: Right now, security is in charge of conducting fire drills; however, I would like to involve the Office of Student Affairs in this also. They will be given responsibility to educate the Resident Assistants (RAs) and provide more details and comprehensive instructions to them. I work in an administrative capacity, as well as in conjunction with the Office of Student Affairs. I believe that fire safety should be a joint effort of both security services and the OSA.
HK: When do you plan on implementing these new changes?
WM: These plans should be in place by fall 2008. By then we hope to include more instructions in the student handbook about fire safety and what is expected of the students. We also hope to have the RAs discuss fire safety with those on their floors within the first week of school to explain that there will be fire drills and what the students need to do. I think students have been conditioned the wrong way in the way that they respond to fire drills. We need to work with those that have the most contact with the students, meaning the RAs, to better communicate the importance of fire safety and how the students react to a fire alarm. Right now, students respond to the PA system, but we need to recondition students to respond to the alarm.
HK: What is your official title?
WM: Director of Manhattan Campuses Housing Services. I was hired to this position last summer.
HK: What are some of the tasks encompassed by this position?
WM: In the summer, I was placed in charge of the renovation of over thirty apartments on the Wilf Campus that were to be used for married couple housing. We enhanced the living spaces and made them more habitable for those living there. The apartments are located in buildings on 182nd Street and 184th Street. However, the big project that I was charged with was to revamp housing administratively. In the last couple of months, we have created a better system to handle housing and the various issues that crop up in the realm of housing.
HK: I understand that you have extensive experience in fire safety. How does that play a role at Yeshiva University?
WM: I was a crisis manager at New York University, where I mostly dealt with issues relating to student health and safety. This role is somewhat different at YU, given that at NYU we would have about a hundred emergency transports of students to the ER for drug and alcohol problems every year. At Yeshiva, we don't have even a tenth of the problems as at NYU, but there are areas in need of improvement in the fire safety realm here. I am especially focusing on policy implementation and what we will and will not allow in the residence halls to prevent fires. We are working to create consistency between the campuses on rules governing what is permitted in the rooms and what should be banned. There also seems to be some lack of student knowledge of fire protocol, responding to fire alarms, and evacuating a building quickly and safely.
HK: How will you change the way fire drills are handled here?
WM: Right now, security is in charge of conducting fire drills; however, I would like to involve the Office of Student Affairs in this also. They will be given responsibility to educate the Resident Assistants (RAs) and provide more details and comprehensive instructions to them. I work in an administrative capacity, as well as in conjunction with the Office of Student Affairs. I believe that fire safety should be a joint effort of both security services and the OSA.
HK: When do you plan on implementing these new changes?
WM: These plans should be in place by fall 2008. By then we hope to include more instructions in the student handbook about fire safety and what is expected of the students. We also hope to have the RAs discuss fire safety with those on their floors within the first week of school to explain that there will be fire drills and what the students need to do. I think students have been conditioned the wrong way in the way that they respond to fire drills. We need to work with those that have the most contact with the students, meaning the RAs, to better communicate the importance of fire safety and how the students react to a fire alarm. Right now, students respond to the PA system, but we need to recondition students to respond to the alarm.
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