Children

Children on Campus Guidelines

The University of Alaska is a diverse environment of classrooms, offices, laboratories, recreation and other common areas. Visitors to campus are generally welcome and encouraged. However, appropriate precautions and limitations on visitation are necessary to protect health and safety and to maintain productivity and regulatory compliance. The University of Alaska values its employees and strives to support them through employment policies and benefit programs. We strive to provide an environment open to work and family issues. However, safety is a primary concern when considering the presence of children on campus. The majority of our facilities are not designed for occupancy by children. Serious injuries can and have occurred to children on university campuses. Therefore, we have instituted the following guidelines to ensure the safety of our young visitors.

Employee Guidelines

The following guidelines apply to bringing children to the workplace:

1. Employees must always obtain supervisory approval prior to bringing children into the workplace.
2. Children are not to be brought to work on a regular basis in lieu of childcare.
3. Children may be brought to work, only occasionally, for the convenience of the employee or due to a family emergency.
4. A parent or guardian must provide supervision at all times.
5. Children should not be left unattended or with other employees.
6. Children should not interfere with workplace activities.

Children are not allowed in high-risk areas such as:

1. Laboratories, shops, studios, mechanical rooms, power plants, garages, food preparation areas;
2. Any areas, indoors or out, containing power tools or machinery with exposed moving parts
3. UA vehicles, boats, aircraft, snow machines, grounds equipment, farm equipment, heavy duty or other motorized equipment;
4. Any other high-risk areas (no playing in stairwells or doorways, no access to rooftops, construction zones, etc.)

Exceptions to the above restrictions on having children in the workplace on a longer term basis or in visiting restricted high-risk areas may be granted at the discretion of the requesting employee’s unit supervisor, manager, dean, or director, but only with the prior written approval granted by the regional Human Resources and Risk Management authorities, and only under the following circumstances:

1. No risk of injury or illness in excess of everyday risks are present in the workplace.
2. No significant disruption of the working environment of either the requesting employee or other employees will occur.
3. The requesting parent signs an agreement promising to indemnify the university and its agents and employees for any claims (including attorney’s fees and court costs) made against the university or its agents or employees that arise out of the presence of the child in the workplace.

An exception, if granted, may be revoked at any time without cause or explanation by the supervisor, manager, dean, director, regional Human Resources or Risk Management authorities.

Student Guidelines

1. A child should not be left unattended while the parent or guardian is attending class or conducting any other business or social function on campus.
2. Line of sight supervision by the parent or guardian is required at all times.
3. Children are not allowed in the high risk areas defined above in the Employee section of this guide.
4. Children are not allowed in classrooms while classrooms are in session unless permission is granted by the faculty member. If a child becomes disruptive, the faculty member may require the student and child to leave.

Visitor Guidelines

1. Line of sight supervision by the parent or guardian is required at all times.
2. The parent or guardian must assure that children are not disruptive to others.
3. Parent or guardian must not leave children unattended at athletic or other University activities.
4. Children are not allowed in the high risk areas defined above in the Employee section of this guide.

Sponsored Events

Through University sponsored events, such as Take Our Daughters To Work® Day, created in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation for Women as a national public education campaign, UA recognizes that children of employees will have an interest in seeing where their parents work, learning more about the University of Alaska, and learning about potential careers. To both recognize and accommodate this interest, some locations at UA sponsor events in which children are encouraged to come to work with their parents. Activity goals should include some of the following objectives:

1. Establish a positive image for UA as an employer (proud of what UA has to offer).
2. Offer a benefit for UA employees (proud to be associated with UA as an employer).
3. Introduce children to a variety of career opportunities.
4. Create an opportunity for the child to get to see where parents spend their time as well as begin to make positive association with UA.
5. Emphasize the connection between work and school (very important to success of the UA Scholars Program).
6. Stress importance of both teamwork and safety in the workplace (UA role models should always be seen as positive).

To facilitate the success of such programs, the below guidelines have been developed for the UA sponsored events entailing children in the work place. These are to be implemented in addition to, not in lieu of, the general Employee, Student and Visitor Guidelines presented above:

• Conduct a work area cleanup prior to the actual event; make sure that obvious workplace dangers have been minimized or eliminated.
• Consider an initial early day gathering (in each building) to describe safety features, such as exits, fire alarms, bathrooms, first aid, off-limits areas, etc.
• Designate specified areas that are not part of the program; some work areas are simply not appropriate for children.
• Children must always be accompanied by the employed parent.
• Participation is limited to children of UA employees (no cousins, nephews, friends, neighbors).
• Consider employee-guided tours within a building where work area restrictions are applied (not all work areas are child-proof, even though considered safe for adults);
• Limit the number of participating children with an employed parent to two at any given time.
• Child participants must be 5 years old or older (Kindergarten through High School);
• Register each child's participation prior to the actual event (accountability in the event of a problem).

Exceptions

These guidelines do not apply to sports camps and other University of Alaska sponsored programs for children.

August 1, 2003