I really can’t believe this happens.
Here’s some context. I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to interact with, read the material of, and visit several post secondary institutions lately and I can’t understand how this happens.
My concerns revolves around spelling mistakes, sending people into possible danger, spending the money and not using it, not sharing or teaching and simply letting it collect dust. Where do I start? Have you ever tried to write something down about something you’re so passionate about that you just can’t type fast enough. That’s this article.
Okay, so I pick up this pamphlet…and let me start by saying that I’m not going to name the post secondary institutions because I’ve reached out to them in hopes that they re-think about and rectify my concerns. So back to the pamphlet…so I pick up this pamphlet and it’s titled Security Information & Emergency Procedures. The pamphlet for those that need to know was on display in the common bathrooms I didn’t see it anywhere else other than the security office. So I read through it, well organized in appearance, a splash of color for affect to distinguish emergencies. But unfortunately riddled with spelling and grammatical mistakes. Now, I’m not perfect in that area but at least I know where my spell check icon is.
The real classic line within the pamphlet was that the on-site security staff will make the determination if the threat of a bomb is valid enough to call the police, if the device or package found is valid enough to call the police. Seriously, I know what level of training the staff has received, and that’s not to be taken as a shot at the staff. None of them has the experience or the training for that matter to make the determination if a suspicious package has the ability to be detonated. So I have the concern about the message they’re sending out. The false sense of expertise they may want to display to the impressionable student. Look around, many of these students are what they call mature students, professionals taking additional schooling to advance their careers, internet savvy students that know how to Google more stuff and information just to agree or disagree with their professors. So really!
“In the event of a Lockdown…leave”. Huh? Might as well not call it your Lockdown procedure but just pandemonium announcement. Leave…go where? Where is the threat? Right beside you, but you didn’t know that, you may have actually been safer staying in the room you were in, locking the door, and staying away from sight or as I like to call it Hide with Pride. Why would you send someone into harms way? You may not have meant to write that, but you did. You have a chance to fix it, and so you should.
The not sharing scares me. So I’m at a business function representing one of the charities I volunteer for. During a conversation I’m asked what I do in my daily life. So I explain and the next thing I know I’m knee deep into a conversation about emergency response procedures. Turns out the individuals I’m speaking with are part time professors at one of these institutions that know these procedures exist but have never received an orientation, a training manual but know that they’re responsible for the students in their class spaces when the lights start flashing or the bells start ringing or announcements come over the half of the public address system that still works. You would think that in an education institution they might be able to even pull off a podcast or webinar of training for their staff…maybe not.
My final beef, and thank you for letting me get this off my chest, is that I’ve seen because I’ve been part of the process, emergency response procedures get created, get tested once and never to be really looked at ever again. That information, those exercises, those books were paid for to be used. They aren’t something that’s just there to show that you were involved in a major project that took some time to complete…and that the table top or mock exercises were ‘fun’ to do…use them. Keep having table top discussions and exercises, review those procedures annually at minimum. I mean really review them, read each page to make sure the information is still correct. Things change.
The more informed your population is, the more prepared they are, the more included in the process they feel, the more likely they’re going to be involved and not confused. End result, less loss, reduced downtown, quicker return to normalcy.
Like I always say, Plan the Work. Work the Plan. It’s not going to do it itself.