I just dug through my e-mails for this semester, and here is the latest one we received for campus emergency procedures. Although it is dated Feb. 19, we get a similar update once a year as our procedures are constantly being refined. I altered some of the wording to keep us anonymous, and please pay particular notice to the highlighted areas. Notice that our lock-down procedure is not new, but is in the process of improvement.
Quote:
Several months ago we consulted with Mr. C, Director of Emergency Management in our area, regarding our campus emergency response and designated shelters. We learned two major things from Mr. C. First, he suggested a few changes to our shelter locations. Secondly, we discussed a “lock down” alarm and procedure.
In response to this walk through with Mr. C we have proposed a change to some of our designated shelter locations. We want to eliminate the biology labs and bathrooms on the lower level of B. Hall from our list of shelter locations. We will add second floor classrooms on the east side of the building to the list of shelters.
We also tested our campus alarm system so that we may add a fourth alarm, a lock down alarm. Why do we need a lock down response? Some examples for a lock down include hazardous materials in the air/area, domestic violence on campus, a need to isolate a current incident to its current location, etc. This really is a “stay put” alarm being referred to as lock down. In testing the alarms we learned that a couple of the alarms were difficult to distinguish between the two. Adding another alarm would not be easy or useful. We concluded that fewer alarms may be better.
The Safety and Security Committee met on two occasions (January 3 and February 16) to consider all of this information. The committee agreed that we should have fewer alarms not more. They voted we settle on two alarms, one for lock down and one for evacuation. The committee also agreed to create a flyer to post in all of the classrooms and bulletin boards on campus. The committee reviewed three flyers and chose the one attached. We would like to begin this new procedure on March 1, 2007 because the storm season is just around the corner. We will proceed with the posting of flyers and proceed with the new alarm procedure unless we receive compelling reasons to delay action.
Thank you to the Safety and Security Committee for your work.
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This e-mail is by no means unique. Every campus in the US goes through similar procedures every year.
So I just don't understand their ignorance at Va Tech about emergency response.