Welcome back to another great installment of Fridays with Chief Trawick, a Reimagined Campus Security, LLC public service resource. In today’s post, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into the topic of Emergency Action Plans.
It is paramount for campus leadership safety teams to pursue ambitious goals of enhancing their campus safety and security initiatives, by assessing and evaluating their Emergency Action Plan Handbooks. This process is initiated to improve the quality of life for their campus population.
The leadership teams should cultivate strategies and establish partnerships across divisions and community partners that will establish a system for predicting collective success, which serves as a means of creating a network of internal and external partners to ensure cross-functional achievement and accountability. That process increases public confidence and yields community support in the event of an adverse incident.
The ability to rapidly reach students, faculty, and staff with emergency updates hinges on having the most accurate and up-to-date information pertaining to:
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- Names of the essential personnel
- Current assignments of essential personnel
- Office locations
- Staff and administration changes
- Building and facility points of contact
- Available internal and external resources
- Contact information (mobile phone, email information, and current address)
While the process of collecting the above information starts at the beginning of the academic year, it must continue throughout the year to ensure response readiness.
The plan’s ability to mitigate and respond to crises is predicated on having current, reliable, strategic, and campus-appropriate processes in place. Changes in processes and procedures are inevitable and must be adjusted and updated to ensure the responses are appropriate to the existing campus climate, as well as internal and external environmental conditions relative to potential threats and situations.
Collaboration and communications with the Federal Emergency Management Agencies, State Emergency Management Agencies, and Municipal Management Agencies is paramount. This process ensures that the handbook is updated with its latest information and processes, thereby ensuring the plan is in compliance with and meets the standards and expectations of your external emergency management partners. Remember, if you fail to plan, you’re probably planning to fail!
I look forward to you joining me on this crusade next week!
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