Note: This is the seventh in a series of stories about how some of the department and units at Brock University are operating during the COVID-19 pandemic measures. If you would like to tell your department’s story, please email stapp@brocku.ca

Since Brock’s operational changes on March 13, the majority of employees have transitioned to working from home; however, the University’s Printing Services team has continued to work on campus to support employees and students.

While the Printing Services team is monitoring all printing requests remotely, the team is still working on campus two or three days a week, rotating between four or five team members in the office at a time.

The overall duties have remained the same as before the operational changes, but the team is now working on a much smaller scale. Currently, the production staff take turns working on-site every Tuesday and Thursday to print offer letters for the Office of the Registrar, which are then inserted into offer packages to mail out to prospective students. A task which was once being done every day is now being completed two days a week due to the pandemic.

The team is also focused on printing materials for Recruitment, mailing and other variable data postcards, thank you cards, brochures, booklets and certificates for many departments across the University. Additionally, the team has begun offering the mailing service for their printed materials. This includes addressing envelopes and combining the mail, which saves on time and the number of people that would usually be handling the mail.

“One big project that we’ve been contributing to is the cutting and drilling of the plastic face shields used for the personal protective equipment head bands that are being produced by a variety of Brock departments and employees,” said Carol McIntosh, Manager, Printing Services. “This week we will also be in the shop preparing diplomas and other materials for printing and mailing in June for our 2020 graduates.” 

To maintain a safe workspace, the team has implemented new sanitizing precautions, which includes all work areas being sanitized before machines are started, washing and sanitizing hands before handling materials and wearing gloves.

“We have a small but mighty team of six and a half that I’m so thankful for,” said McIntosh. “They will always go above and beyond in good times, bad times, when the machines break down or even through a pandemic to get the job done.”