LeTourneau University Emergency Procedures Reference
2011/2012
LeTourneau University Emergency Procedures Reference
This reference guide is designed to provide direction to LeTourneau University faculty and staff in the event of an emergency. Faculty and staff members should direct students and visitors in an emergency by following these basic guidelines for the following situations. Remember to know what you are doing, and do what you know.
TORNADO * MEDICAL EMERGENCY * FIRE BOMB THREAT * ON-CAMPUS SHOOTING For All Emergencies call: 9-1-1 (Longview Police, Fire, Emergency Medical Services) On-campus Emergencies and 24-hour Response 903-233-4444 (Campus Security and Police) Other Important LETU Telephone Numbers: Director of Campus Security 903-233-4441 Director of Facilities Services 903-233-3560 Campus Nurse 903-233-4445
City of Longview Emergency Communications (LPD, LFD, EMS) 903-237-1170 Police Operations Clerk (for telephone reports) 903-237-1122
Gregg County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center 903-236-8400 Airport Police, Fire Department 903-643-3032
What is a tornado watch? A tornado watch means weather conditions are favorable for a tornado to develop. This weather condition is usually accompanied by high winds and thunderstorms. A tornado watch may be upgraded at any time (to a tornado warning) by the National Weather Service and local volunteer storm spotters in its SKYWARN program.
How will you know? • A notice will be placed on the LeTourneau University START page in LETNET anytime a severe weather alert exists. • LeTourneau University Campus Security (LUCS) receives an automated telephone call and initiates notification of all university departments using a telephone calling tree and e-mail. Persons contacted in this manner then notify faculty, staff and students in their work areas. • The City of Longview Early Weather Warning Siren (EWWS) will also sound and is audible at most locations on the main campus.
What should you do? Be watchful of weather conditions during this time. Be advised where emergency weather shelters for your areas are located. Notify and remind students. Check (or have someone else check) that shelter areas are clear and accessible. Persons with mobility limitations should be escorted to sheltered areas during this time. Keep doors and windows in your building/area closed during a tornado watch. Do not delay acting on this precaution. • Remain alert for further messages, e-mails or siren activations. • • • • •
How do you know if a tornado watch is over? • Tornado watches are announced for a specific time period. If that time period passes, and you have heard no updates, the tornado watch has passed without incident. Note: The National Weather Service’s SKYWARN program uses specially trained volunteers to monitor local weather conditions. When conditions are right for tornado activity, a SKYWARN representative moves to the City of Longview’s Emergency Operations Center to continue monitoring weather. The SKYWARN representative notifies the Longview Fire Department and makes the decision to broadcast an alert.
Tornado Watch
Tornado Watch
Tornado Warning What is a tornado warning?
How will you know?
• LeTourneau University Campus Security (LUCS) receives an automated telephone call and initiates notification of all university departments using the Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) which can send a text message via cellular telephone to persons enrolled, as well as sending a blast e-mail and following a telephone calling tree notification. Persons contacted in this manner then notify faculty, staff and students in their work areas. • The City of Longview Early Weather Warning Siren (EWWS) will also sound and is audible at most locations on the main campus. (The enunciator is less than a half-mile away.)
What should you do?
• Remain calm and inform your class or workgroup of the weather situation and prepare to evacuate without delay to a designated shelter area. (Designated shelter areas are located in the innermost parts of each building, in basements, or on ground level floors in multi-story buildings.) • Relay the tornado warning to other nearby classes and workgroups. • Persons who have mobility limitations should be escorted to ensure their safe arrival at shelter areas. • Keep doors and windows in your buildings closed. • Take a “cover” position near the base of the walls and remain calm. • Remain alert for further messages, e-mails or siren activations.
Where are the shelter areas?
• While rooms and corridors on the innermost parts of each building, in basements, or on ground level floors in multistory buildings are designated shelter areas, other areas should be avoided. Areas to avoid: • Elevators--Do NOT use elevators during a tornado warning or fire emergency. • Windows, glass doors, large expanses of unsupported walls--Do NOT seek refuge near windows, glass doors or unsupported structures due to flying glass and debris. • Metal-sided buildings--Do NOT stay inside a metal building during a tornado warning becauseit will not provide adequate protection. • Outdoors--Do NOT go outdoors during a tornado warning.
How do you know if a tornado warning is over?
• Tornado warnings are announced for a specified time period. If that time period passes, and you have heard no update, the warning has passed without incident. The City of Longview Emergency Weather Warning System (EWWS) also can interrupt local cable television to broadcast a voice message to alert, instructing people where to tune for up-to-date information. The warning is also scrolled across the bottom of the screen for the hearing-impaired.
Tornado Warning
A tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service when a tornado or funnel cloud has been sighted in the area. This weather condition is usually accompanied by strong thunderstorms, heavy lightning and possibly damaging winds.
Medical Emergency How to decide if a situation is an “emergency”
Consider the situation to be an emergency if someone tells you he/she is having a medical emergency or displays: Head trauma Severe bleeding Inability to breathe well Any broken bone
Dislocated joint Dazed or confused Extreme temperature Signs of shock
Signs of heart attack Signs of stroke Unconsciousness
• • • • • • •
Immediately call 9-1-1 for Emergency Medical Services to send paramedics. Stay on the line with dispatchers until you are told to hang up. Contact LeTourneau University Campus Security (LUCS) at 903-233-4444 **** Send someone to meet responding emergency care providers and lead them to the patient. Provide care according to your training and experience. Do what you know, but know what you’re doing. Secure that the scene is safe. Do not move the patient unless they are in immediate danger.
If the person appears to be unconscious: • Establish unresponsiveness by gently shaking the patient’s shoulder and saying loudly, “Are you okay?” • If the patient does not repond and is not breathing, moving, groaning or coughing: • Loosen tight clothing, particularly around the neck. • Verify breathing and pulse – and communicate this information immediately to emergency responders. • Provide CPR as appropriate, if you are trained and able.
If the person is conscious:
• Ask the patient about: • Type of injury/illness • Symptoms • History of conditions (onset, duration, recurrency) • Current medications • Monitor patient for: • Coherent speech • Slurring of words • Symmetry of facial features and pupil dilation in the eyes • Reassure patient that help is on the way
If someone has a SEIZURE, do NOT restrain him/her. Move any objects or desks away from the patient to prevent injury. Remain calm and talk to the patient until medical help arrives. **** LeTourneau University Campus Security and Police Officers are trained in first aid, CPR and use of an automatic external defibrillator.
Medical Emergency
In the event of a medical emergency:
Fire How will you know? • Fire may be characterized by a burning odor, smoke or visible flames. • Most LeTourneau University buildings have a fire alarm system that sounds a loud, claxon-type alarm. In the event of a fire, calmly and immediately evacuate the building. • For buildings not equipped with fire alarm systems, word-of-mouth is likely to be the fastest means of notifying others in the building. • To notify others in adjacent buildings, or buildings reasonably expected to be directly affected by a fire, the university will access its Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) which can send a text message via cellular telephone to persons enrolled, as well as sending a blast e-mail and following a telephone calling tree notification system.
What should you do?
What if someone is on fire? Burns affect all aspects of the injured person, from the physical wound to intense fear and anxiety, and may even affect organ function (in larger burns). Do not underestimate the severity of a burn wound if someone has had direct contact with flames. • Have the person STOP, DROP to the floor or ground and ROLL to extinguish flames. If possible, cover the person with a blanket or coat to smother flames. • Only move the person if they are in immediate danger of further injury. • Monitor the injured person for signs of shock. Notify 9-1-1 and LeTourneau University Campus Security at 903-233-4444 immediately. • Do NOT attempt to remove clothing stuck to the skin of a burn victim. • Do NOT apply any first aid ointments or creams to a burn victim’s skin.
How do you know if the fire is over? • Fires are very high-profile incidents. Most likely a fire will be very evident when the threat has passed. Nonetheless, a text message will be sent via cell phones through the Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) informing community members of the status of the fire, how classes and scheduled events will be affected, and where to get further information.
Fire
Take fire seriously. Look for and smell for the presence of fire or smoke. If no alarm has sounded, go quickly to the nearest pull station and pull the fire alarm. Evacuate your area calmly and assemble at a pre-designated rally point. Close windows and doors behind you as you evacuate. Be prepared to take roll of those in your area once you are safely outside. If smoke is present, crouch down as you evacuate the building, and stay below the smoke level to avoid smoke inhalation. As you evacuate the building, be sure to feel interior doors before opening them. If they are HOT to the touch, do not open them. Choose another way out. • If the building has no alarm system, contact 9-1-1 and LeTourneau University Campus Security at 903-233-4444 as soon as possible. • If the building has an alarm system, LeTourneau University Campus Security (LUCS) will be notified immediately by Simplex-Grinnell alarm monitoring company. Simplex-Grinnell also will notify the Longview Fire Department immediately. You do not need to call them. • • • • • •
Bomb Threat Bomb threats are usually communicated by a telephone call, but they may be received via letter, e-mail or text message.
What to do if you receive a bomb threat • Stay calm and listen to everything the caller says. Listen specifically for: • Gender of the caller • Peculiar, regional or professional terminology used • Date, time and location of the threatened detonation • Description of what the device looks like • What type of explosive is it made of • Demands or reasons expressed by the caller *** ***Do NOT attempt to interrogate the caller, but rather engage him/her in conversation Relay pertinent information to LeTourneau University Campus Security and Longview Police. No one is more familiar with your area than you are. Once all students and non-essential personnel have been evacuated: • Initiate a visual search of your classroom, office or work area. • If you find a suspicious article, do NOT touch it or disturb it in any way. • Call 9-1-1 or LeTourneau University Campus Security (LUCS) at 903-233-4444.
How will you know if a threat has been received?
How will you know when the threat has passed? • An Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) text message will be sent out to enrolled cellular phones notifying all community members that the threat has passed and whether normal activities may be resumed.
Bomb Threat
• The Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) will notify professors to evacuate classes to specified “rally points.” • A telephone calling tree and e-mail blast will alert the campus community • Calling tree and e-mail recipients will initiate word-of-mouth notifications throughout all areas of campus ***Notifications may include the announced detonation time of the device
Lockdown Procedure Why would a lockdown occur? A lockdown is an emergency response to protect all students, faculty and staff by requiring them to stay locked in a classroom or building for safety in response to a number of possible events. These might include but are not limited to: • Hazardous material spills where airborne contaminants are a factor • An event occurring off campus that involves a fleeing felon or other dangerous situation that could affect persons on campus • A gunman on campus (unauthorized or illegal possession of a firearm) • A bomb threat in another area of campus
How will you know?
Lockdown notifications will be very “reactionary” and will be transmitted: • By word of mouth from room to room in the affected area FIRST and radiating outwardly from there • By the Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) text message • By telephone calling tree • By e-mail
What should you do?
Immediately lock your office or classroom door. If non-threatening students, faculty or staff are in the corridors, insist they come into a locked area. Direct room occupants away from doors and windows. If possible, close window shades or cover windows. Block doors with some type of prop or heavy object. Wait for a text message, e-mail or telephone message informing you of the exact nature of the emergency. Do NOT open your doors. Authorities will have keys to come and get you out when the threat has passed. Do NOT call LeTourneau University Campus Security (LUCS) at 903-233-4444 UNLESS you have a life-threatening emergency or can provide pertinent information about the emergency itself. • Take roll of students, faculty and staff present, and be prepared to provide it to authorities. • If you hear what may sound like gunshots, direct all occupants to lie flat on the floor. • Remain in lockdown until otherwise instructed by authorities. • • • • • •
Do you have other options? Every emergency circumstance requires active thinking. If you KNOW what the emergency is, and you can remove students and fellow faculty and staff away from it, YOU must make the decision to initiate an action or remain in lockdown.
How will you know a lockdown situation is over? Because of the volatile nature of an incident that would cause a lockdown response, several means of ending the situation would be employed. • Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) text message would be sent out • Emergency responders with keys would unlock and open lockdown areas • E-mail messages would be transmitted • Telephone calling-tree notifications would be made
Lockdown
** Remember – If it is your classroom, you are in charge. If it is your office, you are in charge. In a crisis, if you do not believe you possess the ability to lead and maintain command, then appoint another faculty or staff member to this responsibility.
How do you enroll in the Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS)? • All students, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to enroll in the Emergency Campus Communication System (ECCS) to have text messages sent to your cellular tele phone in case of an emergency. You may sign up through the Information Technology Department by providng your personal cellular telephone number and provider.
• Faculty and staff personnel with university-owned cellular telephones are automatically enrolled.