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Emergency Preparedness
WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY ON CAMPUS
Public safety officers are on campus 24 hours each day, seven days per week. There is always a supervisor on duty, and usually four or five officers patrol the campus on foot, on bicycles, or in marked or unmarked cars.
If you need help, there are several ways to alert the Department of Public Safety (DPS):
1. Blue Lights: There are over 75 blue lights on campus. Pushing the button on the blue light sends a signal to DPS that you need assistance. Many strategically placed cameras allow the dispatcher in the office to evaluate the situation and place a priority on the call.
2. Panic Buttons: Each residence hall room in Ballard North / West is equipped with a panic button that sends a signal to DPS that you need assistance.
3. Telephones: DPS can be contacted by calling 202-651-5444 (TTY) and 202-651-5555 (Voice).
4. Pager: DPS can be contacted by pager at GallyDPS@att.blackberry.net
5. Office: The DPS Office is open 24 hours each day. It is located in the Basement of Carlin Hall.
Officers are expected to respond to calls within five minutes. There may be times, although hopefully rare, when there are more emergencies than there are officers on campus. Every effort is made to prioritize emergencies so that the officers can respond to those of the greatest need. Emergencies that are considered life threatening receive the highest priority. If your emergency is not life threatening, please be patient. Help will come. If your emergency is life threatening and DPS has not been able to respond, you should dial 911. The DC Metropolitan Police Department's emergency line is TTY compatible, and operators are available to assist you 24 hours a day.
EMERGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION
Department of Public Safety (DPS)
202-651-5444 (TTY)
202-651-5555 (voice)
GallyDPS@att.blackberry.net (pager)
D.C. Metropolitan Police
202-727-9099 (voice)
Non-emergency 202-727-1010 (TTY)
Emergency 911 (TTY/Voice)
DEVELOP A PERSONAL EMERGENCY PLAN
Know these basic guidelines:
• Be aware of the surrounding area.
• Learn where emergency exits are. Think about how you would leave a building, subway, or busy place if there was an emergency and you had to hurry.
• Look around you. Be aware of heavy things that could fall or glass that could break. Move away from them if you can.
• Stay calm and follow the directions of emergency personnel and University officials.
• Be careful when traveling. Be aware of someone behaving unusually. Do not accept packages from strangers. Do not leave your luggage unattended. Always have it with you so that no one can put something into it.
• Know the emergency evacuation routes in campus buildings where you spend most of your time.
If you are a student who has a disability and you will need assistance during an evacuation, contact the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSWD) now. Staff members will work with you to develop an individual emergency plan, which will be used to help you during an emergency evacuation.
If you live off-campus, you should have a personal plan for what you will do and who you will contact if a city-wide emergency happens while you are at home. The Web resources below will help you to decide the best plan for you. Be sure that your family knows your plan.
If you live off-campus and are at home when a citywide emergency happens, you may come to campus if you are able. Contact DPS to let them know where you are and find out if it is advisable to come to campus. Once you arrive on campus, report to DPS to let them know you are here and to get further instructions.
COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT!
During an emergency, it is very important to know who is on campus and who is not. During an emergency, University officials want to be able to account for each person who is supposed to be on campus. For this reason, we encourage you to make sure someone at the University (e.g. RA, GA, CRE, Advisor) knows where you can be located if you leave campus. This recommendation is for your safety. It is not meant to invade your privacy.
If you are off campus when an emergency happens (e.g., at an internship site), please call or page DPS to let us know that you are safe.
GALLAUDET ALERT NOTIFICATION SYSTEM
Gallaudet Alert is an email system based on a listserv. It works this way:
1. The University President or his/her designee notifies the Department of Public Safety (DPS) of an unexpected closing (because of snow, for example), an emergency, or any other unusual situation.
2. DPS sends the message using the listserv.
3. All people who have subscribed to the listserv receive the announcement immediately.
The announcement can be sent to: email, pagers, cell phones (with text capability), laptops, PCs, and PDAs. You can subscribe to the listserv on more than one device, for example, your pager and your PC.
How to Subscribe to the Listserv:
1. Use the device with the address to which you want the alert sent.
2. With this device, send a completely blank message and nothing in the subject line to: alert-subscribe-request@gulists.gallaudet.edu
3. After the listserv has received your blank email, Gallaudet Alert will send you an acknowledgment and give you instructions to have your address removed in case you wish to unsubscribe.
PERSONAL EMERGENCY KIT
A basic personal emergency kit would include: flashlight and extra batteries, pager batteries, first aid kit, non-perishable packaged food, bottled water, prescription medications, an extra set of keys, blanket, family contact information, paper and pencil. In an emergency, you should be sure to have your wallet or purse for identification, emergency funds, prescription medications, and keys.
There are Web resources that provide information about personal emergency kits, kits for people with disabilities, and emergency supplies for families and pets. Read about the different kinds of kits and make the one that will best fit your needs.
EMERGENCY EVACUATION
FOUR TYPES OF EMERGENCY EVACUATION
The first type of evacuation is known as stay in place and is used during a chemical or biological attack. You should stay inside your building. Do not go outside. If a chemical agent is used, you will be advised to go to the highest floor in your building because the chemical is probably "heavy" and will not tend to go up. Other "stay in place" situations may call for going to the lowest floor possible in the building. These upper and lower floors will be designated "safe areas" within each building.
Facilities Department is responsible for turning off the HVAC systems in each building, if warranted.
Once inside the safe areas, your options for communication with the outside world may be limited depending on circumstances. In the event that communication is limited, DPS officers will know where to find you when it is safe to come out. We will not attempt to seal windows with duct tape and plastic.
Most of the time, we should expect to be in a safe area not more than 6 to 8 hours. The maximum amount of time we should expect to be there is 48 hours. Please refer to page 68-69 for information concerning the safe areas for each building on campus. Know the safe areas in the buildings you use. Go to the designated safe areas when requested to do so.
The second type of evacuation is a building evacuation. We use this when we do regular fire drills. Everyone must leave a building and move to an outside assembly area. Go outside to the assembly area and wait for DPS to advise when it is safe to re-enter the building. Know the fastest routes for evacuating your building. Plan your routes now.
The third type of evacuation is a campus evacuation. In this event, we will move to the Field House as our primary site and the KCHGU as the secondary site. In the event of a campus evacuation, it will be important for us to account for everyone. Please communicate with your colleagues and friends about your whereabouts. If a disaster strikes, and we know where you are, we can spare your family and relatives a lot of needless anxiety.
The fourth type of evacuation is a city evacuation. In this event, the Crisis Leadership Team will report to the Field House. Maps of city evacuation routes will be available but we advise you to have them handy in advance. Depending on how much time we have, various procedures will be implemented. DPS officers are responsible for opening the gates, as needed. Priority use of University buses will be given to students at KDES and MSSD and to people with disabilities.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYMBOLS
We will use every means possible to communicate urgent information to members of the campus community. In the event that there is no power, or phones and pagers are blocked, we must have a visual way of communicating rapidly. For each type of evacuation, we have created visual symbols. We intend to post these rapidly in the residence halls and campus buildings, on doors and windows, to alert the campus community about which type of evacuation is being used. Routes to building safe areas should already be marked at the time of this printing.
Links to Web resources:
District of Columbia Emergency
Management Agency:
http://dcema.dc.gov/info/guide.shtm
Federal Emergency Management Agency:
http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/
Gallaudet University:
http://emergency.gallaudet.edu
Red Cross:
http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/beprepared/
