The Department of Public Safety is offering tips each week of National Preparedness Month. This week we look at tips for emergency evacuations.
Most of us enter a familiar building the same way every time. We use the same door, take the same hallway, and rarely think about another route.
This month, try something simple: Know two ways out.
An emergency can make your usual exit crowded, blocked or unsafe. Knowing another route gives you options and helps you respond quickly and calmly.
Take a 30-second safety challenge
The next time you arrive at your office, classroom or another campus space you visit regularly, take 30 seconds to look around.
Where is the nearest marked exit? Where is another one? Could furniture, equipment, or other objects make either route difficult to use?
You can also review the evacuation map posted in the building. It identifies emergency exits and the “safe assembly locations” where people should gather after evacuating. If you have questions about your building’s evacuation plan, talk with your Building Coordinator.
If you need to evacuate
When an alarm sounds or you are instructed to evacuate:
- Leave immediately using the nearest safe emergency exit.
- Do not use elevators.
- If smoke or another hazard makes your route unsafe, use another marked exit.
- Proceed calmly to the safe assembly location shown on the building’s evacuation map.
- Tell a Building Coordinator or emergency responder if someone may still be inside or needs assistance.
- Do not return to the building until university officials say it is safe.
Preparedness does not have to be complicated. Start by looking up from your usual route and finding another way out – 30 seconds today could make an important difference later.