Institutions may face a range of emergencies including an off-campus threat nearby, natural and human-made disasters, fires, medical emergencies, or violent incidents. As such, it is important to ensure that the university has a comprehensive, all hazards emergency response plan in place to prepare for and respond to a range of issues.
Emergency preparedness training is a key element of an emergency response plan. In addition to the university’s existing emergency preparedness plan and procedures, SUNY Oswego is pleased to announce that it has formally adopted the “I Love U Guys” Foundation’s Standard Response Protocol - Higher Education (SRP-HED).
According to SUNY Oswego University Police Chief Scott Swayze, “It is vital that all members of the community have the necessary tools to stay safe in any campus emergency. The broadly used Standard Response Protocol - HED offers invaluable education and training, and reinforces the notion that campus safety involves all of us.”
SRP-HED is an all-hazards protocol that prepares school communities for a range of different threats: Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter, and Hold. Secure is used when there is an emergency within the community that could pose a threat to the campus; this response is designed to continue business as usual inside of buildings while securing the perimeter to keep threats outside. Lockdown is used for any threat inside of a building where the goal is to build time and space between occupants and the threat. Evacuate, which includes fire drills, is designed to move building occupants out of an impacted location to another location for safety. Shelter typically is used with weather-related emergencies or hazmat situations and involves situation-specific response tactics (e.g., for a tornado, one would go to a storm shelter). Finally, Hold is used during medical emergencies to keep hallways clear so first responders can get to the person in need more quickly.
“Special thanks to the faculty, staff and students who serve on Oswego’s Campus Safety Advisory Committee for recommending SRP-HED and for their continued efforts to foster a safe and healthy university environment,” said SUNY Oswego Officer in Charge Mary C. Toale.
Annual training will be available to all members of the SUNY Oswego community beginning this semester. All students, faculty, and staff are asked to complete the annual training, which will be offered online via Brightspace. All members of the university community will receive an email on Feb. 1, 2023 inviting them to complete the online training in Brightspace by March 10, 2023.
Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut, a certified trainer on SRP-HED and faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice at SUNY Oswego, trained members of University Police and the Campus Safety Advisory Committee in December 2022 to be trainers. These trainers are available to provide in person training upon request. To request an in-person training session, contact Christy Huynh, Dean of Students and co-chair of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, at deanofstudents@oswego.edu.