Several classrooms in Kimball Tower on the South Campus are closed until further notice due to emergency repairs to a safety-access ladder on the roof of the building.

The affected classrooms are Kimball 113, 124, 125 and 126. In addition, offices in Kimball 119 and 120 and room 115, a biomechanics lab, are inaccessible.

Efforts are under way to reschedule the classes that take place in these rooms.

The heavy steel ladder is used to access a mechanical penthouse from the main roof. Officials from Environmental Health and Safety say it appears bolts securing the ladder detached from the brick over the winter; the ladder is now hanging precariously from the roof flashing at the top of the ladder.

Because the ladder is so heavy, staff from University Facilities needs special equipment to remove the ladder. In the meantime, the ladder has been secured, but staff fear that in a strong wind it still might fall from the 11th-floor roof of Kimball onto a lecture wing where the affected classrooms are located.

Updates will be posted to the UB Emergency website as they become available.

It’s not clear at this time when these rooms will reopen.