UWF Building Emergency Coordinator Program

Training Objectives

Explain Building Emergency Coordinator (BEC) program

Clarify roles and responsibilities Provide program ground rules Discuss information and resources for

BEC activities

What is the BEC Program?

Establishes a point of contact for each department/college with assigned space in a building

Department/college assigns primary and alternate for occupied buildings

Program is coordinated by the Office of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) and updated annually

Why does UWF need BECs? Campus includes ~100 buildings on

1600 acres plus several off-site facilities Population of ~13,500 faculty, staff and

students Diverse campus facilities including

academic buildings, health center, daycares, secure research labs, apartment-style housing, theaters, etc.

YOU KNOW YOUR BUILDING BETTER THAN ANYONE!!!

…and because incidents happen

BEC Roles & Responsibilities Point of contact for safety & emergency

preparedness information provided by UWF and other officials

Liaison with EH&S, UWFPD and other officials in the event of an incident at your building

Ensure completion of closure checklist and procedures before UWF closures

BEC Roles & Responsibilities Provide damage information to UWF

following a large-scale incident such as severe weather

Act as an information conduit for issues related to Facilities issues, i.e., scheduled utilities outages and building maintenance problems

Read and follow BEC email messages

BEC Ground Rules

Do not put yourself or others in danger – don’t be a hero

Follow all announcements from UWF and local officials

Only wear BEC vest when there is a need to identify yourself and performing BEC functions

Do not stay in a UWF building during a hurricane (only those performing essential functions, on-campus residents or those in UWF shelters should be on campus during closure)

Return to campus only when safe

BEC Activities

√ Building Information

√ Building Threats

√ Facilities Liaison

√ Severe Weather

√ Tropical Weather

√ UWF Closures

√ Damage Assessment

√ BEC Email

Building Information Be knowledgeable of departmental space in

building (critical issues, special circumstances, hazards, etc.)

Maintain contact information for restricted areas

Serve as conduit for emergency/preparedness information (building email list, etc)

Update appropriate emergency supplies such as hurricane closure materials

Coordinate with other BECs in building including those from other departments/colleges

Building Threats

Bomb Threats Suspicious objects Receiving a threat communication

Fire Fire Alarm Procedures

Evacuate immediately Inform others they need to leave as you exit Try to have building occupants meet in Rally Point Act as liaison with emergency personnel Only attempt to extinguish the fire if it is small and you

are comfortable using a fire extinguisher

Building Threats

Shelter in Place For Severe Weather/Tornados

Move away from windows Move to lower in hallways Try to keep people in the building

Chemical Leak - Active Shooter

Lock doors if incident person not in your building Run-Hide-Fight

Police Liaison

Facilities Liaison

Provides a point person for Facilities

Provide information to building occupants

Notify Facilities of building issues

Severe Weather – General Info√ Resources for monitoring severe

weather

√ NOAA Weather Radio

√ Understanding weather warnings

√ Watches

√ Warnings

Severe Weather – Monitoring National Weather Service-Mobile,

Al:Issues Watches & Warnings for area http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob

Campus specific and regional forecasts can be found at

http://uwf.edu/envhs/weather.cfm

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob

Severe Weather – Monitoring Best way to receive weather warnings:

NOAA Weather Radio Each building or department/college areas

within a building needs a NOAA weather radio

If weather radio reception is not available in your building, other possible options: SMS/email alerts Broadcast/cable television and radio

NOAA Weather Radio

Specialized radio to able to receive NWS broadcasts

Automatically alerts for weather watches and warnings (based on programming)

When programming radio: Escambia County S.A.M.E. Code – 012033 Tune to162.400 Mhz (channel 2 on most

models)

NOAA Weather Radio

Can be purchased on-line or at most stores selling electronics

Select radio with “Public Alert” logo- Example models include:

Midland WR-100 Recon R-1630 Radio Shack 12-162

Avoid combo units without “Public Alert” logo Staff working outside may need portable

models

Understanding Weather Warnings

NWS change from county based warning to threat-based polygon warnings

Understanding Weather Warnings

Warnings will still appear for Escambia County but only include areas inside the polygon/box

Tropical Weather / Hurricanes UWF follows forecasts issued by the

National Hurricane Center – http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/?n=tropical

National Hurricane Center issues forecasts at 4AM, 10AM, 4PM and 10PM on active storms

Coordinated campus response Campus Emergency Response activities

activated if needed

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/?n=tropical

Tropical Weather / Hurricanes BECs should monitor tropical weather

information throughout hurricane season

Important to read local tropical statements when issued by NWS-Mobile.

Statements contain storm’s forecasted impact to our area including rain and wind (by County)

NWS-Mobile holds webinars for Local Ems. You will be sent the presentations directly

UWF Closures – Weather Related UWF closure decision made by UWF

President or her designee Issues coordinated with local officials

via Escambia County Emergency Operations Center

UWF closure is really suspension of normal activities. Many departments continue essential functions. (UWFPD, Facilities, etc.)

Shelter(s) provided on campus for Public – HLS, B-13. Operated by Red Cross. Building-4 is the Student Shelter.

UWF Closures – BEC Activities Ensure completion of closure checklist(s) –

lab/research area & office/administrative area versions

Bring in or secure loose items outside of building(s)

Secure vehicles Monitor information from UWF administration

regarding operational schedules

Damage Assessment

Complete initial damage assessment for your building(s) if needed following a severe weather incident or other large-scale incident

Provide damage assessments to EH&S Damage assessment forms will be

provided

Damage Assessment Different input forms for Building (exterior) and

Rooms (interior) Paper version of forms can be used to gather

information before entering electronically Forms can be found on the EH&S Website Take pictures of damage and include building

& room number in image Directly contact work centers for urgent or

critical items

Building 0002

Room 0499

Electronically add building & room numbers to pictures or include information on a piece of paper in the picture

UWF Emergency Notification Multimodal approach to campus-wide

notification: Text Messaging Email Twitter Facebook Sirens Lightning Prediction System UWF Homepage & WUWF radio (official source for

information) Current project underway to install speakers

in campus buildings Important for BECs to provide your current

emergency contact information to EH&S If BEC personnel change, please notify

EH&S

Questions???Peter Robinson, DirectorOffice of Environmental Health and SafetyBuilding 95Extension 2435probinso@uwf.edu

http://uwf.edu/ermgt/index.cfm