Emergencies big & small

"Emergencies" can range from building emergencies (e.g., fire, injury/illness, chemical spills) to less critical everyday emergencies (e.g., no toilet paper, overflowing toilets, broken chair).

General Emergency Assistance

• Dial 911 from an emergency phone for the police, fire department, or an ambulance. Remember to call x7777 (or, 617-714-7777 on an outside phone) after you call 911 to let Security know the nature of your emergency so they can coordinate the appropriate on-site resources to respond. Examples of emergencies that warrant a 911 phone call include life-threatening illness or injury, suspected heart attack, fire, or a major laboratory spill. Let the operator know what building you are in, your room number, and describe the emergency situation.
• First aid kits are located along with the emergency phones at safety stations in the 300 Binney Street, Merkin (415 Main Street) and Stanley (75 Ames) buildings, and throughout the building at 27 Blue Sky Drive and 105 Broadway.
• AEDs are located at most safety stations and throughout all Broad buildings on every floor.
• For injuries/illnesses that don't warrant a call to 911, notify your supervisor and proceed to a nearby urgent care to seek medical attention.
• All work-related injuries and illnesses should be reported to your supervisor immediately. Supervisors must complete the Supervisor's Injury Report Form within 24 hours of the incident to notify Broad EHS and Human Resources.

Emergency Closing

• In the event of a weather emergency — or any other emergency that significantly interrupts our daily work — the Broad Institute may officially "close" for a time determined by the severity of the emergency. We have established three communications methods to let everyone at Broad know as soon as possible after a decision to close has been made:
  • Broad Alert: A mass notification system for emergencies and weather-related building closures.
  • By phone: Call 617-714-7669 (or "SNOW" on an alphanumeric keyboard, though this number is used for all emergency closings) for a recorded message.
  • On the web: Both the internal and external web sites will carry a notice of closing with additional details as they are available.
• You should also note that a decision to close will be based on conditions in Cambridge. Because winter storms here are notorious in their unequal treatment of even adjacent towns, you should always use common sense in taking to the roads/sidewalks, and let your supervisor know if you are delayed or will be out.

Emergency Ride Home

• The Broad Institute offers a free Uber ride to your home or medical facility when an emergency situation occurs during the workday.
• In the event of an emergency, contact the front desk of the Merkin or Stanley buildings, explain that you need an emergency ride, and ask them to arrange for an Uber to pick you up. The front desk will issue you a voucher.
• If it's after hours, contact the 1st floor front desk at 415M, which has 24/7 security coverage. They will be able to provide you with a voucher.
• To find out how to use this program and what constitutes an eligible emergency situation, please visit the Benefits manual.

EHS, Security, and Facilities Hotline: x7777

• EHS, Security, and Facilities 24/7 hotline: 617-714-7777 or x7777 from any Broad telephone. You may call the hotline if you need to reach EHS, Security, or Facilities urgently (when an email to ehs@broadinstitute.org or completing the Facilities Request form won't suffice). A member of the relevant EHS, Security, or Facilities team will be monitoring calls to the hotline at all times and will call you back within 15 minutes if the phone isn't answered immediately.
• Non-urgent Facilities issues that arise during normal business hours (Mon-Fri, 8:30am - 5pm) can be reported by completing the Facilities Request form.
• Non-urgent EHS issues can be reported by emailing ehs@broadinstitute.org

Systems Emergencies

• Computing emergency 24/7 hotline: Call 617-714-8888 for all computing emergencies (Physical plant, major network problem, major server outage, or any other problem affecting a major production process or group). Please note: This number is not for problems relating to individual user issues.
• Minor or less urgent IT/Systems problems (e.g., your Broad email is down, you have lost a file): Please contact BITS for assistance, or check the BITS blog for more information.

Emergencies While Traveling

The Broad partners with International SOS (IntlSOS) to provide travel assistance to Broadies while they are traveling on Broad-related business. If you are traveling on Broad business, you must register your trip with IntlSOS. Your travel is registered automatically if you make your travel arrangements through Atlas Travel and/or via Concur. For higher risk destinations where management approval is required for travel, you may also be required to fill out a pre-travel questionnaire. Read more about IntlSOS’s services for medical and security incidents and how to access them.