Planning for winter weather

Important information about weather-related MI cancellations and closures

Thursday, November 30, 2017

The Marine Institute has a plan for keeping you informed when the inevitable weather-related cancellations and closures happen.

How the decision is made

When bad weather hits and safety is a concern, the decision to cancel classes and labs or to close the St. John’s and Marine Institute campuses is made by the university president (or his designate). The president gets advice from a number of university units, particularly Facilities Management, which is in close contact with Environment Canada and the provincial Department of Transportation and Works, as weather systems develop.

Keeping you informed

The university doesn’t close except under unusual circumstances. But in the event of severe weather or other emergencies when Memorial has to cancel classes or close, information will be available quickly through a variety of communications channels.

The primary communications tool to inform Marine Institute, St. and Grenfell campus communities of closures is the MUN Safe app for Apple and Android devices. For more information about MUN Safe, including how to download it, please visit www.mun.ca/munsafe.

The Marine Institute notifies students, faculty and staff of closures and cancellations on its website www.mi.mun.ca, as well as Twitter (@marineinstitute) and MI’s Facebook page.

In St. John’s, when closures happen midway through the day, information is also shared via the Gazette, mun.ca, social media (@MemorialU on Twitter and Memorial University on Facebook) and via Newsline email.

The Marine Institute and the St. John’s campus does not post university-wide closures or delayed openings to the Cancellations page on www.mun.ca or www.mi.mun.ca. The Cancellations page is used for individual class cancellations only.

Information is also communicated to the news media for public broadcast.

Timing of announcements

Advisories for late openings and all-day closures will be issued by 7 a.m.

Early closings during daytime will be announced at least one hour in advance.

For more information on the university's emergency closing procedures, including what radio stations to listen to, visit www.mun.ca/main/closures.php.

OSSC Storm Information

In the event of weather related delays and course cancellations at the OSSC Foxtrap or Holyrood locations, the OSSC will provide students with information related to updates/rescheduling via the following methods:

• Initial Announcement:
  • Marine Institute website
  • Radio Station - VOCM, CBC, Hits FM, K-ROCK, OZ FM and Coast 101.1.

• As OSSC is a division of Memorial University and the Marine Institute, any announcement related to the closure of these Institutions would directly relate to OSSC.
• Because of the OSSC’s locations, there may occasionally be a requirement to close the Centre when either Memorial University or the Marine Institute are still open. In such events, a specific announcement regarding closing of the OSSC will be made, listen to the announcement carefully as the Foxtrap facility may close independently of the Holyrood location. If both locations are closed the announcement will indicate the “the OSSC Foxtrap Campus including the Holyrood Marine Base”
  • OSSC Phone System: Information related to closures and cancellations will be recorded as it becomes available at 709-834-2076
  • Information Updates/Rescheduling: the Marine Institute website www.mi.mun.ca will be updated with rescheduling information for all OSSC courses

SERT Centre Storm Information

Because of the Safety and Emergency Response Training (SERT) Centre’s location, there may occasionally be a requirement to close SERT while other campuses of Memorial University or the Marine Institute are still open.

In the event of weather related delays and course cancellations, the SERT Centre will provide students with information related to updates/rescheduling via CFCB 870.

An initial cancellation/delay announcement will be made between 6 -8 a.m. Regular information/rescheduling updates will be made via CFSX radio throughout the day.