Faculty group revisits plan for emergency preparedness

Recent school shootings and treacherous weather have IU administrators focusing on campus safety.  

The Bloomington Faculty Council and the Office of Emergency Management and Continuity discussed the facility, security and safety master plan last week, which is currently in development.  

In 2010, a new emergency management and continuity planning department was created at IU. That works to better prepare the school for a variety of emergency scenarios, from school shooting to severe weather.

“The plans are not specific to individual hazards, to specific hazards,” Mark Bruhn, associate vice president of public safety and institutional assurance,  said at the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Feb. 4.

“So, while we do spend a little bit more time on tornadoes and have spent a little bit more time over the last year and a half on active shooters, the plans are designed to address all hazards. That is, they’re flexible enough to sort of amoeba-like change.”

The department follows the federal framework for emergency preparedness, Bruhn said at the meeting.  

By organizing the department under federal guidelines, it’s easier for IU responders and city responders to work together in a crisis situation, Bruhn said.

“They all use the same terminology, they all use the same practices, the same operating procedures, and if there has to be joint command — one from the fire department at Bloomington and one from campus — they know how to speak to each other, and so all of that is coordinated,” Bruhn said.

Staff training for emergency situations has three stages: a workshop that goes through every scenario, a table top exercise in which they run through a specific scenario and a larger, hands-on exercise.

“You can imagine, a campus this size, if we’re going to have anything of significance in the exercise that is something that would test sort of all the moving parts adequately, it has to be a pretty large production,” Bruhn said.

“We have to have theater and drama students with bottles of ketchup, and it has to be as realistic as we can make it while people still know that it’s going to happen, right?”

These sorts of exercises are less frequent because of the amount of planning it takes to coordinate such a training event, Bruhn said.

In addition to training some staff members in emergency preparedness, each building that has academic classrooms or offices with 10 or more people in it has an emergency control committee.

“We’re really trying to build the partnerships so that those folks are empowered to be more involved for any kind of an emergency incident that may occur within their building,” said Debbi Fletcher, IU-Bloomington director for emergency management and continuity, at the meeting.

The facility, security and safety master plan, which was discussed at the meeting, will work through the physical security aspects in buildings on every IU campus.

“We look at new technology, new methods and new information all the time so we can make sure we are giving the best information in the most effective and efficient manner possible,” Fletcher said.

One change they are considering is installing locks so classrooms lock from the inside, an idea tested at Ballantine Hall when locks were installed in almost every classroom door.

The locks in Ballantine have been installed over the past couple of months, Fletcher said.

Bruhn said it cost $380,000 to put locks in.

While an emphasis is put on faculty training, it’s just as important for students to keep themselves informed individually on what to do in any type of emergency situation, whether it’s a fire, an active shooter or a tornado, Fletcher said.

“We spend a lot of time and effort to make sure our campus is prepared, no matter what happens,” she said. “It’s important that students do their part to make sure they know what they can do.”

Follow reporter Kathrine Schulze on Twitter@KathrineSchulze.