Risk Management and Compliance

Emergency Building Evacuation Information And Procedures 

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY 

All College facilities are maintained and operated as safely as possible. However, there may be times when it is necessary to evacuate college buildings due to an emergency or in case of an emergency drill. When this happens, all building occupants need to be prepared to evacuate college buildings quickly and in an orderly manner. The following information and procedures are prepared so all occupants will know what to do in case of an emergency.

General Information

All college buildings except the Washington County Center and The Adult Education Center are equipped with fire suppression sprinkler systems. Burns Hall and the Shewmaker Building have emergency evacuation alarm systems built into the buildings. At other college facilities other alarm procedures would be used to signal building evacuation.

Our college Public Safety Officers, college Physical Plant employees and building Emergency Evacuation Coordinators are all trained to assist building occupants to safely evacuate the building.

Take the time to become familiar with your surrounding inside college buildings. Know where stairways and exits are. In case of emergencies, building elevators will not be in use.

Building Evacuation Procedures

1. When the emergency evacuation signal is sounded in any college building, immediately evacuate the building by going to the nearest exit. Remember that building elevators are not in use during an emergency evacuation. Do not take excessive time to gather personal belongs. In an emergency, time is of the essence. The evacuation signals for college buildings are:

• Emergency Evacuation Coordinators assigned to specific sections of college buildings will assist building occupants who need help evacuating college buildings or going to a place of safety inside the building. Class instructors and department supervisors can assist these Coordinators by helping to identify building occupants who do need assistance.
  
• Once outside the building go to the nearest safe assembly area beyond the building parking lots and wait there for further instructions or until the "all clear signal" is given to return to the building.
  
• Do not go to your automobile or attempt to leave the college campus until the "all clear" sign is given. We want to be able to account for all building occupants once everyone is outside the building. Emergency vehicles entering college parking lots would be hampered if automobiles were leaving the parking lots. In the event of a fire, hoses will be spread across the parking lots and exits blocking automobile traffic.

Thank you for your cooperation in observing these procedures. If you have any questions regarding this information or procedures please contact us as soon as possible. Thank you.

Richard Nelson
Director of Public Safety
619-4397

or

Steve Pelphrey
Executive Director for Risk Management and Compliance
619-4127

For questions/comments on this content, please contact Steve Pelphrey.