Snow, ice… and other reasons to be cheerful!

In total, CERN’s roads, car parks, pavements and pedestrian areas cover an area of 60 hectares. The EN-HE group is responsible for clearing snow from, and gritting and salting, the roads and car parks. The GS-IS group, through its cleaning and green-area maintenance contracts, is responsible for clearing snow from, and gritting and salting, pavements, pathways and the entrances to buildings, as well as keeping salt bins stocked.

In the event of heavy snowfall, general snow clearance operations are initiated by the CERN Control Centre, starting at 3 a.m. for roads and car parks, and 4 a.m. for pavements and the entrances to buildings. One-off operations during the day may be initiated by the Fire Brigade, site managers, security guards or the CMS control room.

Salt bins are also available for you to salt the approaches to entrances. Make use of them!

At weekends and on public holidays, the procedure is the same, with the exception of the times: general operations are initiated at 7 a.m. for roads and 8 a.m. for pavements and entrances. During the day at weekends, the Globe, the Main Building, the route de l'Europe and Building 33 are the main priorities for snow clearance.

Call 72202 for any requests for snow clearance from roads and car parks or 77777 for the rest of the site and the team will forward your request to the relevant service.

Important: snow clearance and cleaning of car parks has become practically impossible owing to long-term or overnight parking of large numbers of vehicles. These operations would be greatly facilitated if these vehicles were parked together in groups at night and over the weekend.

Advice for avoiding accidents: Wear weather-appropriate footwear. Where possible, use routes which have been cleared of snow and salted. Avoid cutting across areas from which snow and ice have not been cleared. Take care as some surfaces can rapidly become very slippery and crossing from one type of surface to another can be dangerous.

And remember: safety is everyone's responsibility!

We remain available for any further questions or suggestions.
 

Handling Engineering Group - EN Department

Integrated Services Group - GS Department

Safety Engineering and Environment Group - HSE Unit