007-22: Mechanical Room and Roof Access

Campus Facilities and Grounds
Section 007: Campus Facilities and Grounds Policies and Procedures

Effective: 04/20/2010

Updated: 4/20/2025

This rule is intended to govern access to mechanical rooms and building roofs.

Mechanical rooms include boiler rooms, HVAC rooms, electrical rooms, elevator machinery rooms, or any other area where building utilities, equipment or systems are controlled.

Access to mechanical rooms and roofs is restricted to properly trained and/or certified professionals who demonstrate a legitimate business need, primarily Facilities Services and EH&S, for the following reasons:

  1. To prevent injury from dangerous moving/rotating equipment, stored chemicals, fumes, exhaust, or other imminent hazards.
  2. To prevent injury from high voltage electrical systems and electrical equipment.
  3. To prevent tampering or unnecessary damage to equipment, buildings, and building systems by improperly trained persons.
  4. To ensure university informational security and system reliability by restricting access to network cables, servers and related equipment.
  5. To reduce/mitigate risk exposure as it relates to the university’s global insurance policy, insurance carriers, and premiums.
  6. To protect students, staff and all building occupants and to ensure their safety.
  7. To protect research and the critical systems that support research.
  8. To prohibit unapproved or unpermitted installations of equipment.
  9. To ensure satisfactory inspections by first responders and building code enforcement officials.
  10. To ensure OSU meets all OSHA and NFPA requirements.
  11. Training requirements include but are not limited to: proper personal protective equipment (PPE), fume hood safety, lock out tag out procedures, electrical systems and arc flash safety, confined space entry, roof access safety, fall protection, asbestos awareness, machine guarding, hearing conservation, hazardous material and chemical safety, and others.
  12. Keeping the university community safe and preserving critical operations is the highest priority.

Storage in mechanical rooms is limited to only items directly required to maintain the equipment and mechanical systems in that room or building. Storage of departmental equipment in mechanical rooms is strictly prohibited for the following reasons:

  1. To minimize hazards and prevent incidents, including injuries and property damage.
  2. To prevent blocking or interference of egress and trip/fall hazards.
  3. To prevent fire hazards and/or fire code violations.
  4. To prevent blocking of critical building equipment and systems, and to allow for maintenance, inspection, repair and testing of those systems.
  5. To ensure sufficient clearance of sprinkler heads, electrical panels and electrical equipment.
  6. To ensure access during an emergency situation.
  7. To ensure OSU meets all OSHA and NFPA requirements.

Mechanical rooms and roof access are to remain locked and secured at all times. To request supervised access contact Facilities Services at [email protected].