5 questions for ... Harry Hughes

Chief 'snowbuster' praises staff who cleared campus after storm

When winter delivers a one-two punch—as it did last week—Hughes and a dedicated crew of "essential personnel" fight back with muscle power and an arsenal of snow- and ice-removal equipment.

How do you and other Facilties Management staff prepare for a major winter storm?  

We subscribe to a premium weather-forecasting service, but we also listen to what the other meteorologists are saying. Obviously it’s important to make sure that we have the staff and equipment lined up to deal with whatever nature is going to deliver. We also feed and house the snow-removal crews, so that requires some preparation and coordination.  

The Valentine’s Day storm was atypical, wasn’t it?

There wasn't a lot of snow, but it was really hard, heavy and difficult to move. Crews had to use metal shovels instead of the lighter plastic ones, so that contributed to worker fatigue. Our de-icers were useless in the unusually cold temperatures. It took 12 hours to clear the campus—actually, most areas were cleared a half-dozen times over the course of the storm. It took about twice as long as it would have taken to clear an ordinary four-inch snowfall.

How many workers were involved?

Altogether, there were about 50 Facilities Management staff and about 25 ARAMARK employees rotating on a regular shift basis. There were also supervisory staff and various support staff involved throughout. But the real credit goes to the people who provided the muscle needed to dig out the campus. It was a very tough job.  

What kind of equipment did they have?

They used heavy snowplows and backhoes, and to a lesser degree some small tractor-type plows. The equipment moved very slowly because the snow and ice weighed so much, but luckily there was only one equipment failure. The crews did a lot of the work with shovels. Sometimes manual labor is more effective than the machines.

Do you think that storm was the major weather event of the season?

[laughs] I sure hope so.

Story by Jan Lucas/Photo by Kanji Takeno

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