Campus emergency plan being revised by officials
Zach Groves, Alestle News Reporter
Issue date: 3/22/07 Section: News
Students may see a different approach from the administration when it comes to emergency response plans.
Under Emergency Management and Safety Director David McDonald's leadership, the university is reworking its current emergency preparedness plan so it is in line with the recently created National Incident Management System Act.
Administrative Services Director Bob Vanzo said the plan would respond to any natural disaster or other emergency that affects the school. The plan involves dividing university officials into teams and assigning them various responsibilities.
"It would be this group's job to put the university in operation … so classes can be run," Vanzo said. "We will protect everybody."
According to Vanzo, SIUE would not have any problems communicating with other institutions because they would all have the same system.
"If we needed to contact another agency, we could talk to them and use certain references," Vanzo said. "They would have the same structure, same titles, same duties."
While the revamping went into effect for SIUE in spring 2006, the training and preparation are still in progress. Vanzo said the deadlines to implement it vary on a yearly basis.
The costs are not set in stone, either. Between setting up a command center and training staff, Vanzo said the university-backed funds could be a mix of money from different campus accounts.
So far, Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift and other university officials participated in discussions with SIUE Police about types of decisions that are necessary in reacting to incidents and disasters. Other officials, according to an e-mail from Administration Vice Chancellor Kenneth Neher, "have been trained and assigned specific responsibilities for planning, operations, logistics, finance and administration."
Vanzo said practice drills may soon occur so students will know where to seek shelter in case of a storm or other disaster.
For more information on the new act, visit siue.edu/SAFETY.
Under Emergency Management and Safety Director David McDonald's leadership, the university is reworking its current emergency preparedness plan so it is in line with the recently created National Incident Management System Act.
Administrative Services Director Bob Vanzo said the plan would respond to any natural disaster or other emergency that affects the school. The plan involves dividing university officials into teams and assigning them various responsibilities.
"It would be this group's job to put the university in operation … so classes can be run," Vanzo said. "We will protect everybody."
According to Vanzo, SIUE would not have any problems communicating with other institutions because they would all have the same system.
"If we needed to contact another agency, we could talk to them and use certain references," Vanzo said. "They would have the same structure, same titles, same duties."
While the revamping went into effect for SIUE in spring 2006, the training and preparation are still in progress. Vanzo said the deadlines to implement it vary on a yearly basis.
The costs are not set in stone, either. Between setting up a command center and training staff, Vanzo said the university-backed funds could be a mix of money from different campus accounts.
So far, Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift and other university officials participated in discussions with SIUE Police about types of decisions that are necessary in reacting to incidents and disasters. Other officials, according to an e-mail from Administration Vice Chancellor Kenneth Neher, "have been trained and assigned specific responsibilities for planning, operations, logistics, finance and administration."
Vanzo said practice drills may soon occur so students will know where to seek shelter in case of a storm or other disaster.
For more information on the new act, visit siue.edu/SAFETY.
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