The Fitness and Lifestyle Centre (FLC) on the University of Regina campus has left broken glass uncleared and unreplaced for a month. Staff and frequenters of the centre see this as a common trend and believe the FLC is not a top priority for the university.
“That mirror has been broken for a month,” said Brooklynn Brandow, a consistent user of the FLC.
“It keeps slowly breaking more, which obviously leaves glass in a dangerous spot. It seems like something is always broken in here.”
Glass shards are falling from the mirror and spread across a dumbbell rack, a hazard that leaves a high risk of injury when attempting to lift a pair of dumbbells from the rack.
The staff have attempted to warn users about this hazard by taping a white paper sign that reads: “DANGER,” different from the yellow slipping-hazard signs used to identify liquid spills on the floor.
“There are a lot of things happening across this campus,” said an FLC front desk employee who requested anonymity. “It’s huge and has a lot of different departments. If money is tight, it seems like this area isn’t a main priority.
“The people who actually have to fix the breaks are probably spread thin across campus. Things break here all the time. We always get them replaced, eventually. It happens slower than we would like, but there isn’t anything we can do about it.”
The space is clean, though dumbbell racks are consistently disorganized. Many of the machines in the space have rips along their padding and possess leftover weights, which are uncleared by the last users of the machine.
“There is only so much we can do,” said the employee. “We clean the floors and organize dumbbells, but it gets discouraging when people in here consistently don’t show respect for the space or equipment. The equipment wears out fast considering how many users the gym has.”
Another frequenter of the FLC is displeased with broken machines.
“Having broken equipment is a disgrace,” said Joshua Potter, a user of the gym. “The fact that the university can’t replace it right away just makes it even worse given the fact that a lot of students access it.
“We pay this money for the gym membership just for things to be broken and not put away properly. Facility issues, and whatever that may look like, aren’t helped by the fact that people don’t respect the space. They don’t clean equipment, or wipe down their dirty surfaces.”
The university is required to maintain the FLC, and the employees are paid to keep the area clean and clear of hazards. Users of this space are obligated to follow the list of rules posted at the front desk and respect the equipment they are using.
“[The mirror] should be replaced within a couple weeks by an external company,” said Everett Dorma, a PR strategist for the university.
“Each individual piece of equipment [repair time] would be different, repairs may range from a couple days to a couple months.”
Mr. Dorma then shared the FLC’s repair process.
“The maintenance provider usually comes weekly to assess the equipment, and depending on inventory/stock of items, some repairs may not be completed until those items are shipped.”
