Initial Response and Activation of the ERP

Faculty and Staff

In the event that a crisis occurs without warning, the Initial response may begin with faculty and staff. Since staff and faculty members are likely to be the first university representatives at or near the scene of an emergency when it occurs, they should contact the Department of Public Safety immediately.

The staff or faculty member must also be prepared to take charge of the situation, direct appropriate response actions, and remain in-charge until the situation is resolved, at risk people are in a safe location, or until others with appropriate authority assume responsibility. Staff and faculty members should be trained or familiarized with emergency response actions for a variety of emergency situations and should be familiar with the concepts of the Incident Command System.

Department of Public Safety

The primary responsibility for monitoring emergency threats and events resides with the Department of Public Safety. DPS operates on a continuous 24/7/365 basis and is always available to receive emergency communications from variety of official and public sources. In any type of emergency, the Shift Supervisor (supervisor in charge) should follow standard operating procedures. If the emergency warrants, the supervisor should communicate immediately with the Manager of Operations and/or the Director.

Based on information obtained from faculty or staff, the immediate Supervisor, Manager of Operations or the Director will initially activate portions of this Crisis Plan to the extent necessary to control the situation.

Vice-President for Finance and Administration

If the event escalates or is such that full activation of this plan is necessary, full plan activation begins at the discretion of the Vice President of Finance and Administration.

Upon the receipt of information of an emergency event or threat of an emergency from the Department of Public Safety and in the case of any type of campus or declared local, state or federal emergency, a decision will be made by the Vice President of Finance and Administration on a plan of action and whether to contact the President and activate this Crisis Plan.

Campus-Wide Warning

Should it be deemed necessary to warn the university community of an impending threat or emergency situation, the Department of Public Safety along with Information Technology are designated this task with authority to activate alert warning resources and activities.

Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

The University Incident Commander (Director of Public Safety or designate) and all summoned Crisis Response Team Members will report to the identified Emergency Operations Center (EOC) or other specific location as directed. Crisis Management Team Members will also be contacted and may be present or directed to an alternate location.

The primary EOC will be continuously maintained in a state of readiness for conversion and activation. The primary EOC is located at the Department of Public Safety, 536 Garden Avenue. This EOC serves as the centralized, well-supported location in which the Crisis Response Team will gather and assume their role. Response activities and work assignments will be planned, coordinated and delegated from the EOC.

Crisis Management team members will report to the Presidents Conference Room located on the 3rd Floor Loretto Hall.

Depending upon the type of incident, the Vice President for Finance and Administration may, at his/her discretion, designate the Presidents Conference Room or the Finance and Administration conference room as the primary EOC and may combine both CRT and CMT members.

If all of these primary EOC's are unsuitable or unusable, Crisis Response Team will report to the backup EOC located at the University Center located at 175 Edgar Road.

Short-Term Response

Once Emergency Responders arrive, (DPS, Police, Fire, EMS, Members of Campus CRT, etc) they will utilize the principles of the Incident Command System (ICS) in organizing a response to the incident. Initial response activities that Emergency Responders will use will include:

• Scene containment;
• Establishment of a "hot zone";
• Establishment of an inner perimeter;
• Establishment of an outer perimeter
• Establishment of a command post;
• Establishment of a staging area;
• Dissemination of warnings, emergency public information, and instructions to the University;
• Conducting evacuations and/or rescue operations;
• Caring for displaced persons and treating the injured;
• conducting initial damage assessments and surveys;
• assessing need for mutual aid assistance;
• restricting movement of traffic/people and unnecessary access to affected areas;
• establishing Unified Commands;
• coordinating with state and federal agencies working in the field.
  

Long-Term Response

Extended emergency operations involve the coordination and management of personnel and resources to mitigate an emergency and facilitate the transition to recovery operations. Field response personnel will continue to use the Incident Command System (ICS) to manage field operations. EOC staff will support field response personnel in mitigating the affects of the disaster.

When the EOC is activated, communications and coordination will be established between the Incident Commander(s) at the scene and the EOC. Multi-agency or inter-agency coordination will be used by EOC staff to facilitate decisions for overall local government level emergency response activities.

EOC staff will be organized around the Emergency Management functions of Command/Management, Operations, Planning/Intelligence, Logistics, and Finance/Administration. These components and principles will be used by the EOC staff to manage disaster operations. EOC staff will establish measurable and attainable objectives to be achieved for a given operational period. An EOC action plan will be developed for each operational period.

Recovery

Recovery Operations are outlined in a different manual. As the immediate threat to life, property, and the environment subsides, the rebuilding of the University will begin through various recovery activities.

Recovery activities involve the restoration of services to the campus community and rebuilding the affected area(s). Recovery activities may be both short-term and long-term, ranging from restoration of essential utilities such as water and power, to mitigation measures designed to prevent future occurrences of a given threat facing the University.