Don t forget to smile and have fun with our guests! When you do, you will have more fun at work and give our guests great times and great memories!

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Blanche Gordon
5 years ago
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1 Daily Operations General Information: A daily schedule will be completed by the Director of Education comprising tower and base, as well as assigning group tours. You are responsible for knowing when you are scheduled. Staff/volunteer stations: Base of the tower Smile! Check for admission wristbands Direct visitors to store to purchase tickets Enforce height restrictions Enforce no food and drink rule water only in museum and tower Advise visitors of weather & other climbing conditions Answer questions Give on-going information about our history, archaeology, and site (without waiting to be asked). Top of the tower Smile! Open/close the tower Monitor visitor and staff safety Monitor weather conditions and inform office, store and base personnel of changes/threats that could change the status of the tower Give a tour each time you climb and on the deck Answer questions Don t be late for your shift! Museum Store Smile! Greet each guest Answer questions Stock the store when possible Dust and sweep when possible Answer the telephone and transfer calls Tower shifts should be no longer than two hours, 30 minutes. If you have meetings or projects that will affect your availability, it is your responsibility to find a replacement to cover your shift. Don t forget to smile and have fun with our guests! When you do, you will have more fun at work and give our guests great times and great memories!

2 Opening Procedures Historic Site: First Person on Site - Disarm alarm system if you are first on site in both Visitor s Center and Keeper s House. Base Person - Turn on base radio and keep with you. - Put up flags. - Turn on all lights and exhibits in keeper s house. - Put out any advisory signs at base of tower. - Put up umbrella at base of tower during hot weather. - Sweep base of tower from rotunda to sidewalk including oil storage, hall, keepers office, brick sidewalk and back porch of K.H. Shake out rubber mats on porch of K.H. Sweeping should be done as needed throughout the day. Do not leave the broom and pan against the outside of the oil house. It may be kept behind the door inside the oil storage room, and then returned to the garage at the end of the day. - Unlock doors at 9:00 a.m. - Make sure deadbolts are unlocked on ALL museum doors (in case of an emergency). - Tower door should be unlocked but closed until the tower person has communicated from top that they are ready to open. - Set up water sales. - Do a quick walk-through of the Keepers House each hour checking that all A/V equipment is working, pick up trash, etc. Tower Person - Turn on tower radio, obtain wind meter and keep with you. - Open windows in base and all windows in tower except bottom, west window. Set window dogs on shutters and set blocks in watch room windows. Open view-port to lens room and observation deck door. Inspect deck and evaluate weather conditions. - Advise store and base when it is safe to open deck. Closing Procedures - Historic Site: Tower: - Close and padlock door to observation deck. - Close door and lock padlock to viewport.

3 - Take anything down with you that you brought up (don t leave in desk). - Close all windows on the way down and in base. - Sweep assigned section of tower. - Turn off tower lights (if on) and turn on entry lights. - Close and lock the front door. - Assist base person with checking for trash and closing base. - Return flag, wind meter, and radio to V.C. Base: - Collect weather data every evening at 4:55pm and call promptly at 5:00pm to National Weather Service. The local news stations need the information by 5:30pm. - Close the door to the tower after last climbers have started up (make sure door is unlocked on the inside). Retrieve flag and fold. - Ensure that garage, Ice cooler, barracks, conservation hut and fence, and all gates are locked. - When all guests have left the site, turn off all museum displays and lights. - Make sure all doors are locked and dead bolted - upstairs, first floor, kitchen, restrooms. - Arm alarm system on K.H. unless there are meetings or rentals that night. - Close and lock bathrooms in Visitor s Center. - Deadbolt back stairwell. - Return radio to V.C. - Make sure all radios are turned off and charging. *All guests climbing late should be given time to see the keepers house exhibits. This typically means that staff closing the site can be there a full fifty minutes to one hour after formal closing time. No guests should be asked to leave the site because we are closing unless they are remaining well beyond the one hour time, and then you should simply ask if there are any questions you can answer and gently remind them, with a smile, that they can have a few more minutes before we close. On average, guests visiting the site late will only be there thirty to forty-five minutes after closing the tower.* *Tower and Base staff should return to the VC together after alarm is set in the Keepers House. No staff member should be left alone out at the historic site at closing time. Be sure to check with the store staff to make certain they don t need help with anything before you leave for the night.*

4 Museum Store Operations: Opening: - Turn off alarm if not already done when you arrive. - Sign in, turn on radio and set beside register by back door. - Count $300 drawers/complete paperwork. - Prepare daily paperwork and bags. - Count $300 but enter $ Check under registers. - Restock paper bags. - Turn on replica, nightlights, etc. - Clean Visitor s Center and Stock displays. - Put signpost, chimes stand, and 50% off table outside. - Turn on lights. - Unlock doors at 9:00am. - Smile and greet guests. Closing: - Lock doors: secure pins in doors. - Run 2 X reports and 1 Z. - Attach X to the Opening & Closing Checklist and file in draw. - Close out credit cards. - Stock floor & cooler. - Change wristbands. - Clean coffee pot & empty garbage. - Sweep floor and vacuum carpet. - Lock bathrooms (Site). - Turn off lights & porch fans. - Bring in 50% off table and chimes stand. - Bring deposit & paperwork upstairs. - Sign out, recheck doors & set alarm. General Cleaning: It is the responsibility of all staff to assist with keeping our museum clean. The large amount of sand brought in on guests shoes results in the need for frequent sweeping in the tower, courtyard walks and Keepers House.

5 Plexiglas cleaning is also necessary in the tower and Keepers House. It is very important that only Plexiglas cleaner is used and never glass cleaner or dusting sprays. Dusting should also be done routinely over window sills, door frames, picture frames and furniture. An excellent time to do this is after the tower has closed while visitors are still in the museum for 45 minutes or so. The window shades in the period room are museum quality, UV filtering shades. Please do not try to raise, lower, or manipulate them in any way. This basic maintenance of our historic structures is in keeping with the proud traditions of the keeper s who came before us. We all now carry on that tradition. Safety: Please keep in mind that the lighthouse property is open to the outside world due to the nature of our relationship/lease agreement with St. Johns County. In other words, we don t have a big fence up to keep people off of the property after hours. This area is desirable to all sorts of individuals traveling through our city so use common sense when closing, particularly after dark: - Try not leave by yourself. Walk to your car with a co-worker. - Report any burnt out light bulbs to maintenance. - Do not open registers to count money at closing prior to securely locking all of the doors. - Keep the external stairway doors in the VC locked at all times (knobs, not deadbolts) so no one can access the upstairs office area without a key. - Vary your routine, i.e., where you park and walk to and from your car each day. - Do not leave your co-worker to close the base alone because you are done in the tower. Remain with them until the historic site is secured and walk back to the VC together. - Do not remain at the office working late by yourself. In most cases you can take your work home with you and/or we can make arrangements for you to access server functions and documents from your home as long as you have internet access. - Remain aware of the world around you. Don t look at the ground when walking to your car or be completely lost in conversation with a co-worker. Look at your surroundings and check the environment you are entering before you step out of the door, i.e., is there anyone in the parking lot after hours? In the park across the street? Are there any vehicles parked that you don t recognize? Where are their occupants? Etc. - Be smart Be Safe! Weather Safety: Wind, gusts or steady: - Over 30 mph, observation deck is closed to children under Over 40 mph, observation deck is closed to everyone.

6 Rain: - Observation deck is closed when it rains. - Use your discretion in mist, light showers, etc. - If the observation deck is wet, it should be closed. - If it rains hard enough and the stairs get wet, only the base of the tower will be open re-open when deck is dry (about 1/2 hour after rain ends). - Individual puddles should be cleaned up by staff prior to opening. - Ensure that no rain is coming in through tower windows. Tower person checks the watch room and upper windows, base person checks oil house and lower windows. Remember to communicate with your co-workers. High humidity: - At times the tower may sweat because of a great temperature change and will need to be closed because the stairs are wet - This rarely happens, (usually winter), watch for it! Lightning/thunder: - Either the tower person or the base person may close the tower. If one says to close, the other staff member must close. This is because, many times, the base person can hear thunder when the tower person cannot. - Close the entire tower immediately if lightning is seen approaching the area. Lightning can strike up to 10 miles away from a storm. This is a judgment call. Use common sense. If the lightning is at a great distance and you don t hear thunder, you may not need to close yet. - Close the tower if thunder is heard approaching the area. Also a judgment call. - Re-open the tower after 15 minutes when no lightning/thunder has been seen/heard if it has not rained. - Re-open the tower 30 minutes after lightning/thunder accompanied by rain. The tower has been struck by lightning, and will be again! Always err on the side of safety. - Radar may be used as reference but the decision to close is never based on radar unless the NWS has issued a severe warning for St. Augustine. Fog: - Check how wet the observation deck is to determine whether it can be opened or not. -Advise visitors of limited visibility and dampness. Extremely high temperatures and humidity: - Make sure advisory signs are out and verbally tell people to take it easy when they climb and drink plenty of water. Wasps: - Paper wasps frequently breed around high structures and are particularly fond of our lighthouse. They are not aggressive and will not attack, though you may observe two males

7 fighting over a female. Though there could easily be hundreds of wasps at the top or the tower, wasp stings are rare. - Caution guests on the deck to watch where they place their hands on the railings. - Have the base person put out the wasp caution sign at the base. - Confirm that no one is allergic to wasp stings prior to climbing the tower. - Educate our guests on this information. - Reassure the guests that the wasps will likely only be on one side of the tower out of the wind.

Severe Weather Shelters

Severe Weather Shelters When tornadoes and other severe weather affect your area, it is incredibly important that you know where a good shelter is. In general these are some characteristics of a GOOD tornado/severe