Published June 19, 2014 This content is archived.
Several classrooms in Kimball Tower on the South Campus are closed until further notice due to emergency repairs to a safety-access ladder on the roof of the building.
The affected classrooms are Kimball 113, 124, 125 and 126. In addition, offices in Kimball 119 and 120 and room 115, a biomechanics lab, are inaccessible.
Efforts are under way to reschedule the classes that take place in these rooms.
The heavy steel ladder is used to access a mechanical penthouse from the main roof. Officials from Environmental Health and Safety say it appears bolts securing the ladder detached from the brick over the winter; the ladder is now hanging precariously from the roof flashing at the top of the ladder.
Because the ladder is so heavy, staff from ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Facilities needs special equipment to remove the ladder. In the meantime, the ladder has been secured, but staff fear that in a strong wind it still might fall from the 11th-floor roof of Kimball onto a lecture wing where the affected classrooms are located.
Updates will be posted to the as they become available.
It’s not clear at this time when these rooms will reopen.