Health & Safety

Blue light phones, which provide direct communication with the UCI Police Department, are located within each housing community and throughout the campus. UCI also provides a Safety Escort Servicefor students who are traveling on foot at night. For more information, visit the UCI Police Department’s Campus Safety website.

If you encounter an emergency where an individual needs immediate medical attention, call 9‑1‑1. For non-life-threatening emergencies (e.g., flooding in a bathroom, a broken window, etc.), contact your community housing office during office hours or call the DUTY LINE after hours and 24 hours a day on weekends and holidays.

The housing office requests that all students with special medical conditions report them to a trusted roommate, RA or HA, and your community housing office so that we are better able to assist you in a time of medical need. The information will be kept confidential and only used to assist a resident with a medical need. Residents must inform their community housing office of all suspected or actual cases of contagious disease, such as hepatitis, meningitis, or chicken pox. For safety reasons, students who must use hypodermic needles or other skin piercing tools must dispose of them in a properly labeled, puncture resistant, leak-proof container.

The University is not responsible for damage to personal property caused by natural occurring events (floods, earthquakes, etc.) or facility malfunctions (plumbing, electrical, etc.). Residents are encouraged to secure renter’s insurance to protect their belongings. Renters insurance may be purchased through GradGuard^TM or another provider of your choice.

Infrequently, a resident in Student Housing may come across bed bugs in their living space or a common area. Bed bugs can be hard to find and identify because they are tiny and try to stay hidden. Bed bugs can survive for months without feeding.

1. If you believe there are bed bugs in your unit or a common area, please alert the community housing office immediately.
2. The community housing office will contact the pest control professionals to come out and assess the pest on hand. The vendor will determine if bed bugs are present.
3. If present, the housing community will work with the vendor and resident(s) to schedule thermal heat treatment, which uses high temperatures to rid the unit of bed bugs. Chemical treat may be simultaneously applied to other areas of the impacted area as determined by the vendor.
4. The vendor will also provide residents with clear instructions on laundering clothes, laundering linens, cleaning unit, and managing furniture that is not university owned. It is imperative that the resident follow allow of these instructions to ensure the overall treatment is effective.
5. Student Housing will manage any impacted furniture that is owned by the university.
6. Student Housing and impacted residents will be provided with follow up documentation regarding the treatment process.

Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Know I Know If There Are Bed Bugs Present?

• Appearance: Bed bugs have six legs, flat bodies and are about ¼ of an inch in length. Their color can vary from red and brown to copper. Young bed bugs are very small. Their bodies are about 1/16 of an inch in length. They have almost no color. When a bed bug feeds, its body gets bigger and turns bright red. Bed bugs do not fly. They can either crawl or be carried from place to place on objects, people, or animals.
• Bed Bug Bites: Because bed bugs usually feed at night, most people are bitten in their sleep and do not realize they were bitten. A person’s reaction to insect bites is an immune response and so varies from person to person. Sometimes, the red welts caused by the bites will not be noticed until many days after a person was bitten, if at all.
• Common Signs and Symptoms of Possible Bed Bug Infestation: Small red to reddish brown spots on mattresses, box springs, bed frames, linens, upholstery, or walls; Molted bed bug skins, white, sticky eggs, or empty eggshells; Very heavily infested areas may have a characteristically sweet odor; Red, itchy bite marks, especially on the legs, arms, and other body parts exposed while sleeping.

How Does a Bed Bug Infestation Start?

• Bed bugs can be carried on luggage, clothes, bedding, furniture, or other objects. They can be “picked up” while traveling or transporting belongings.
• Second-hand or discarded mattresses and furniture, clothing and linens can be a source. Never remove furniture or mattresses from sidewalks or other disposal sites and bring them back to your bedroom or living area.

Ways to Prevent Pests and Bed Bugs
Prior to Move In:

• Thoroughly vacuum out all luggage prior to packing for move in at UCI.
• Launder all clothing, bedding, and other linen at the hottest temperature possible, while still being safe for the items.
• Avoid purchasing and bringing in second hand furniture.

While Living at UCI:

• Keep your living area clean and tidy. Avoid accumulating clutter, reducing potential hiding places.
• Vacuum dorm room or apartment often, especially around bed(s) and upholstered furniture.
•  Regularly inspect bedroom furniture and linen.  Look for brown or red streaking or dotting.
• Keep a mattress cover on your mattress at all times.
• If a hole or crack in the wall is found in a dorm room or apartment, submit a work order for it to be sealed.  This will prevent transfer of pests from one room to another.
• When traveling, use precaution.  Inspect beds and look for signs of infestation.  If staying in a hotel, always use luggage racks, do not place bags or clothing onto the bed directly.
• To help prevent the introduction of pests in your room or apartment, check yourself prior to going inside after spending time outdoors to ensure you are not inadvertently carrying any pests.

Student Housing has a limited amount of disaster supplies, and we encourage residents to gather their own personal supplies and to make their own plans in case of an earthquake (e.g. Personal Disaster Prep Kit).

Student Housing conducts two disaster drills every year: one at the beginning of fall quarter and another during winter or spring quarter. All students are required to participate in the drills if they are present in the community.

Fire evacuation plans are posted in most residential building(s). Become familiar with the evacuation plan for your hall, house or apartment before a fire or other disaster occurs. Every alarm must be treated as an indication of a real emergency. Always evacuate a building when an alarm sounds. Undergraduate Housing communities conduct fire drills twice during the year: one at the beginning of fall quarter and another during winter or spring quarter. Residents are expected to evacuate their buildings and proceed to the designated assembly area during both drills.

Upon discovery of a fire, alert others, leave the area and close all doors behind you. Please pull the nearest fire alarm box and dial 911 to report the fire. The procedure for evacuation is as follows:

1. Close and lock your door and take your key with you. Exit the building immediately through the nearest and safest path.
2. Once you are out of the building, go to the designated assembly area.
3. Re-enter the building only after receiving instructions to do so from fire officials or from your community housing staff.

Undergraduate housing communities conduct safety “walk-through inspections” each year. Professional staff from Student Housing and Environmental Health and Safety conducts in-room inspections that focus on electrical hazards, fire safety issues, and unsafe furniture arrangements. Staff also enters rooms quarterly to test and inspect fire sprinkler and alarm systems.

Each student should be aware of the sensitivity of the sprinklers, smoke detectors and heat detectors that are present in their room, hallways, or apartments. These can be activated by water, force, pressure, or sudden shock. When smoke or heat detectors are triggered, they activate the building alarm system alerting residents, the Police Department and the Fire Department.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF GUIDELINES FOR YOUR SMOKE DETECTOR:

• Some room smoke detectors are battery operated.
• To ensure your safety it is imperative that batteries are left in the smoke detectors at all times.
• When the batteries are low, the detector will emit a periodic beeping sound. If this happens, submit a work order in your community Housing Office to have the battery replaced.
• Your community maintenance staff conducts periodic smoke detector checks to ensure their working condition.
• Residents should not touch, tamper with, or attempt to investigate any fire safety equipment.