Page 20 - Campus Security & Life Safety, November/December 2018

EMERGENCY TECHNOLOGY
THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS
Crisis communications at the University of Calgary By Rebekah Jarvis
Planning for everything that could possibly go wrong is second nature for members of the University of Calgary’s Risk portfolio, who are constantly tracking the worst-case scenario and developing strategies to prevent it.
UCalgary is located in Alberta, Canada and with more than 30,000 students and 5,000 employees, emergency preparedness needs to be top of mind for Rae Ann Aldridge, Associate Vice Presi- dent of Risk, who says preventing incidents is only the half of the job.
“Our health and safety approach is really proactive, and that allows us to keep many potential issues from ever developing,” Aldridge said. “The other side of being proactive is having a strong plan for the unavoidable, and emergency communication is central to that.”
Communication is built into all three levels of UCalgary’s clearly defined emergency response structure, which includes the First Response Team, Emergency Operations Group and Crisis Management Team. There’s also a Master Emergency Communication plan that was developed in partnership between Risk and University Relations.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION EARLY—AND BRING FACTS
With user-generated content and real-time information sharing, social media has increased our expectations for immediate information.
If the community is talking about an incident online, Aldridge says it is important for the university to contribute to the conversation early.
“Social media provides a lot of room for misinformation during a
crisis,” Aldridge said. “We use Twitter to get the facts out as quickly as possible to as many people as possible.”
Crisis communication for UCalgary doesn’t begin and end with social media though—far from it.
In addition to the ability to email every active student and employ- ee, UCalgary can also send information using the UC Emergency Alert desktop notification system. It sends pop-up notifications directly to university-managed computers and laptops—making students, faculty and staff instantly aware of an emergency situation and any important instructions.
Not plugged in? UCalgary is currently installing a mass-notification system in buildings across campus—the project is over 50 percent complete and will enable the fire alarm system to broadcast building- specific audio messages—prerecorded or customized.
“The mass-notification system is ideal for many crisis situations,” Aldridge said. “It’s not dependent on people being online or checking their email—if you are in the building you will get the message.”
THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
UC Emergency Mobile delivers instant alerts and updates that can save lives and prevent injury during emergency situations. Students, faculty and staff with the app installed on their devices are among the first to find out about critical events on campus—notifications provide as much detail as possible about what is going on and how to stay safe.
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