Communicating Evacuation Plans
Campuses rely on notification systems as a critical means for emergency communications
- By Paul Shain
- February 01, 2021
A campus evacuation is one of the most challenging emergency
situations a college or university may face. Coordinating
efforts to ensure that people get the message to clear out of
buildings without causing a panic can be a difficult goal to
accomplish. Campuses are full of distractions, and chances are
if you are a campus leader that determines an evacuation is necessary,
you can’t afford to waste time making sure the message gets disseminated.
Evacuation alerts need to get into front of the right audience
immediately, so people take action.
A Critical Component
That’s why many campuses rely on mass notification systems as a
critical component of their evacuation plans. Mass notifications
offer an intrusive means to broadcast critical emergency communications
like evacuation instructions via text and audio messages. Of
course, carrying out an evacuation doesn’t just mean sending out an
alert, it requires careful planning to guarantee everyone gets out of
harm’s way.
Evacuation considerations should start by addressing who needs to
be notified and how. The evacuation plan for an instruction hall is
going to be different than the plan for a dormitory, theater building,
stadium or library. It is important to bring together different departments
who can advise on strategies and considerations that may not
be immediately obvious. This can include facilities, campus safety,
administration and other relevant teams who can provide valuable
insight about where to direct people. They can also help determine
what constitutes calling for an evacuation.
A fire may be the most obvious event where people need to vacate
a building, but campuses need to consider other situations that may
require people to seek safety outside. Situations like a chemical spill
in a science lab, or a gas leak in a dorm may also require evacuating
students, faculty and staff out of those buildings until it’s safe to
return. Each of these situations may require different messaging, as
people need to know that they should exit a building, but also that
they need to wait for an “All Clear” message before they can return.
Other situations like an active shooter may require different training
and messaging as an evacuation can put people in the path of a
shooter. If the shooter is contained to a specific area though, it may
make sense to instruct people to leave.
Campuses will also need to decide how evacuation notifications
will be triggered. Again, in these kind of situations, timing is critical.
Triggering alerts needs to be easy so that the moment someone notices
an incident they can begin informing others.
Too much time can be wasted waiting for the right person to get in
front of a computer and remember their log in before alerts start
going out. Mass notification systems offer a number of options to
make this process simple. Physical panic buttons installed in classrooms
and hallways can be connected to a mass notification system
to begin distribution with a push of a button. For campuses that want
an extra level of precaution to avoid false alarms, speed dials on desk
phones can be configured to activate alerts when someone inputs the
right code. In addition, designated staffcan be given permission via a
smartphone app to trigger alerts. Providing multiple options for triggering
helps ensure messages are delivered without delay.
An Evacuation Message
The next question to answer is how to share the evacuation messages
that have been created. Given the severity of a situation that
requires evacuation, campuses need to leverage every available channel
to ensure no one misses a message. Mass notification systems
offer the ability to connect with a wide range of devices which can be
used to share simultaneous messages across a campus.
IP phones, IP speakers, desktop computers, digital signage, mobile
devices and more can all use text, audio and images to communicate
evacuation plans. This offers far better reach than simple mass texting
solutions. If students are in a class that doesn’t permit them to use their
phones, or are in a building that does not get good reception, campuses
run the risk of certain students missing messages that impact
their safety. Using mobile alerts in addition to notifications delivered to
on-premises devices makes it much more likely that 100 percent of a
campus population receives an evacuation notice in a timely manner.
Campus safety teams and administrators can also use mass notification
to manage events after an evacuation alert has gone out. While an
initial alert may be sent to a large group of people, subsequent messages
can be sent to preconfigured groups who can best respond to the situation.
One group, like instructors, may get instructions to help facilitate
evacuation within their building by guiding students outside. The campus
safety team would get a message to go to the building being evacuated
to make sure everyone got out, and administrators would receive an
invitation to join a conference call or virtual space to observe and assess
the situation to provide additional help if there are further developments.
Getting People Out
Until that time, though, it’s important to not just get people out of
buildings, but keep them out until it is safe to return. Mass notification
can help by broadcasting messages to outdoor digital signage communicates
that a building is closed until further notice. If a building needs
to be kept clear for an extended period of time, mass notification systems
connected to electronic door locks can provide additional assistance
in keeping buildings secure until people are able to reenter them.
Mass notifications can then help resolve the evacuation event by
delivering an “All Clear” message. This helps minimize further disruptions
by helping normal operations resume quickly. Administrators
can then assess their response to the event by examining analytics
within their mass notification system to see how many people and
devices received a message, and how quickly people exited buildings
after received the initial alert. They can then make adjustments and
improvements to be better prepared for the next event.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for handling evacuations,
mass notification systems can take much of burden offof campus
leaders by automating processes and distributing clear, concise
instructions to everyone.
This article originally appeared in the January February 2021 issue of Campus Security Today.