Overall Concept of Readiness

State of Readiness

State of Readiness shall be two-fold. The first is the creation and implementation of the mitigation and preparedness activities identified in this plan. The second is when the University is in receipt of a warning or the observation that an emergency situation is about to occur.

In the event of the second, Webster University will take the appropriate steps to ready itself for a potential event. Such warnings may include the issuance of a tornado warning or watch, inclement weather to include snow or freezing rain or sleet or excessive heat, a hazardous materials incident, civil disturbance or protest

Actions to take may include, but not be limited to:

• briefing of the President and Administrative Council or employees of the University on the situation;
• reviewing and updating of Emergency Operations Plan and related SOPs;
• increasing public information efforts;
• accelerating training efforts;
• inspecting critical facilities and equipment, including testing warning and communications systems;
• recruiting additional staff and alerting contractors;
• warning threatened elements of the population;
• conducting precautionary evacuations in the potentially impacted area(s);
• mobilizing personnel and pre-positioning resources and equipment; and;
• establishing or activating staging areas.

Webster University's response to crisis situations is based on four phases:

1. State of readiness;
2. Initial response and activation of the plan;
3. Long-term response operations; and
4. Recovery.