Five Security Plans Every Christian School Needs to Have in Place
By: Jeffrey A. Hawkins
In these tough economic times, many Christian organizations think of security as expenses that they cannot afford; however, there are many things that they can do, and should do, that cost no more than time.
Security is often misinterpreted as alarms, cameras, guards, and guns, but the true meaning of security, as defined by Webster’s dictionary, is “the quality or state of being secure” and risk is defined as “possibility of loss or injury.”
So, in every instance, all organizations should strive to increase the state of security and reduce risk – it needs to be part of the culture, not a product.
In every organization, secular or religious, that invites the public onto their property, there needs to be five key emergency plans in place. Further, they need to be written down, communicated at every level, and practiced regularly, because in an emergency, people do what they have practiced.
1. Emergency Evacuation
The first plan is one that most people are familiar with from their school days: emergency evacuation. This is the plan we used to call “fire drills.” However, there may be a host of reasons why you may need to evacuate people from your building, and some may be more time-critical than others.
Fire is the first thing we think of and is the most often reason people are evacuated out of a building, but other reason include gas leaks, power outages, bomb threats or suspicious packages, broken water pipes that cause flooding, etc.
Some of these require alarms or some type of notification system to direct people out, while some will not be that time-critical and people may be directed out by an announcement or staff.
But, there needs to be a plan in place, and most areas of the country require drills to be conducted at least on an annual basis – check with your local fire department.
2. Shelter-in-Place
The opposite of the emergency evacuation is what became more common after incidents such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks: the Shelter-in-Place plan.
This is a situation where sending people outside the building may be more harmful than keeping them inside. The causes for this can include severe weather, civil disturbances, toxic chemical spills, etc.
In this plan, there needs to be a method of communication to the people in your building to instruct them where to go, which is generally a lower level where the building is most structurally sound and there are few windows.
In some instances, like a chemical spill, there may be a need to shut off the HVAC system in the building to avoid having toxic air brought into the building, so staff or volunteers need to know how to do this.
In this type of situation, there is no telling how long people may be in your building. Do you have the basic necessities to care for them, such as bottled water, blankets, and maybe some type of snack food?
Keeping people calm, informed, and safe is the key to this plan to avoid panic.
3. Medical Assists
Many schools throughout the country have faced emergency medical situations striking teachers, staff members, and students.
The fact that heart attacks, falls, seizures, and strokes occur in this country with great frequency shows a need for a planned medical response, which includes having staff or volunteers trained in basic first-aid and CPR/AED, and coordinating response with your local emergency medical services.
A person going into cardiac arrest has approximately six minutes to live unless CPR is started and an Automated External Defibrillator is used – most ambulances cannot reach your building in that short amount of time.
An AED “shocks” the heart back into rhythm during cardiac arrest. An AED is not difficult to use and is now included in almost all CPR courses because of their high rate of success in saving lives.
In a medical emergency, there is nothing worse than people to see staff and volunteers doing nothing but waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
4. Lost Child
In schools, there has to be a plan in place when a child turns up missing, and, like most of these plans, taking fast action is critical.
Once a child is deemed missing, the plan (sometimes called a “Code Adam” – named after Adam Walsh, who was abducted in a department store in 1981 and murdered) needs to be communicated.
The three critical components of a “Code Adam” is communication to all staff and volunteers of the missing child (complete with a thorough description), lockdown of the facility until the child is found, and a thorough search of the building and property.
A good plan can be executed in a matter of minutes, and, generally, even in very large buildings, a child can be found in less than 15 minutes. If the child is not found in that timeframe, the police need to be contacted immediately.
5. Emergency Lockdown
Unfortunately, there have been instances in the secular and Christian community of rapidly escalating violent confrontations or “active shooter” situations.
Hundreds of lives have been lost and countless others injured and traumatized because of these incidents. They occur very quickly and are usually over in less than 10 minutes; however, others have lasted hours until the scene is secure.
These types of incidents are dynamic, so there is no “cookie-cutter” plan that can be outlined – the specifics of the building, the occupants, emergency response, and other factors will weigh heavily into this plan.
That said, these dynamics do not mean that a plan should wait. Consult with your local law enforcement or other emergency planning experts and develop the right plan that will work for you…but do develop the plan.
In all these plans, there are some commonalities that bear repeating. All plans have to be written, they all have to be communicated at all levels, and they need to be practiced on a regular basis – because, as previously stated, in an emergency, people do what they have practiced.
Jeffrey A. Hawkins serves as executive director of the Christian Security Network and is a senior law enforcement/security professional with over 28 years of diverse experience on a global level, www.christiansecuritynetwork.org.
Sidebar
Mitigating On-Campus Tragedies
By Robert M. Dugan
America was shocked on April 16, 2007, when the news began reporting on the shootings that destroyed many lives at Virginia Tech. The same could be said about other tragic shootings, like the one at Columbine, Colorado.
As tragic as these events were, there have been many students injured and killed by lightning at schools throughout the United States. Any death or injury at a school or university is tragic. Unfortunately, the cost to mitigate these life-changing events is often too high to pursue. However, taking action in an attempt to “manage” such events is necessary and morally required.
It is a statement of fact that in any economy, acquiring technology that can be utilized for multiple purposes is vital. Equally important is a necessity for any technology worthy of consideration to be representative of the best available.
This article addresses the general requirements for an emergency notification system as a possible defensive response to one these potentially tragic occurrences.
Emergency Notification Systems
When administrators are faced with an immediate emergency situation like a shooter or chemical spill, time and confusion are also the enemies. Once a dangerous situation has been reported, every responsible member of the school’s staff should know exactly what to do or where to go.
Similar to the familiar fire drill, emergency notification drills should be scheduled and rehearsed. Minimizing the initial response time will result in fewer deaths or injuries. Recent history clearly shows this to be the case.
Properly designed and administered technology can be a significant asset, eliminating time and confusion during those first few moments of chaos.
Emergency notification products should provide five distinct services as mandated by the immediate threat facing your school.
1. Every emergency notification must have an accessible audible and visual warning device that is loud and immediately recognized as a directive to go seek shelter in a pre-determined and rehearsed location.
2. When the audible/visual warning is initiated, a closely positioned computer should bring up a specialized program providing multiple options in identifying the exact nature of the emergency, if possible, or a general category covering any immediate threat.
3. Given the range of emergency situations that may occur, the individual who initiates the audible warning must easily select which situation applies and quickly initiate a selection through the adjacent computer.
4. Each category should have both an e-mail message and a text message, pre-written by the school administrators, which are immediately forwarded when the specific emergency threat has been selected. Generally, these messages direct the students and administrators to take certain actions, which, again, have been rehearsed. The amount of time required to perform actions 1 through 4 should not exceed 20 seconds. Such a format would have made the Virginia Tech tragedy a tragedy with fewer fatalities.
5. After the danger has passed, announcements should be made accordingly, and the visual emergency notification devices that have been flashing during the “shutdown” period turned off.
The integration of a useful and reliable emergency notification system into any school is as important as the technology engineered into the system (hardware and software). A tool is only as useful as the training that goes into its use.
A complete emergency plan is as mandatory today as the equipment needed to disseminate the threat’s nature. Preparation for any unlikely dangerous situation will pay off in fewer injuries or deaths.
Robert M. Dugan is the president of THOR GUARD, Inc., manufacturer of lightning prediction systems, Internet weather subscription services, the Guardian Emergency Notification System on THOR GUARD on-site meteorological services, www.thorguard.com.
