School emergency management plans are important contingency plans school administrators develop and use in case of any number of emergency situations. Although these plans undoubtedly save lives and prevent further distress in emerging situations, surprisingly, there are no federal laws requiring such plans. Regardless, many schools and government bodies have crafted such plans and have publicly issued plenty of resources to help guide schools in crafting their own plans. In the spirit of bettering emergency planning and preparedness in our schools, here are some key components to consider when creating a school emergency plan today.
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Development, Maintenance, Distribution
While the central dos and don’ts of emergency plans largely direct on-the-ground efforts during emergencies, the totality of any such plan requires a certain level of administrative oversight and strategy beforehand. With this said, the very first component to any emergency plan is an organized approach to its creation, maintenance, and distribution throughout all faculty and staff. Without collective organization at this level, even the very best ground-level plans can essentially become ineffective.
Organization, Responsibility Assignments
Quite arguably, the very next most important component to the plan is the designation of responsibilities and the facilitation of collective understanding of these individual roles and responsibilities. By each faculty member having a precise and well-rehearsed role set, an organized response to emergencies is all that much more possible in many cases. Continued training and faculty meetings can help to keep the plan fresh in all minds involved.
Communications
Many resolutions to emergency situations also depend greatly on communication – the sending and receiving of crucial messages. This can also accurately be viewed as the flow of critical information. When communication fails, losses can increase immediately and exponentially. As a result, primary and even secondary and other auxiliary forms of communication must be planned for in advance.
Direction, Control
As the lives of many students and staff can depend greatly on so much here, intuitive direction and the control of people and spaces is as important a component as nearly any other. This can involve a teacher knowing how to safely dictate movements of students and where to direct them to. It can also involve the securing of all points of ingress in that space once occupied by students and staff. People and space control and awareness are what this crucial plan component addresses.
Action Annexes
The effective plan will also include plenty of material addressing specific actions. Also commonly referred to as the “action annexes”, this battery of actionables gives students and teachers even more power in many situations. Drop, cover, and hold procedures represent one form of an emergency action annex. Specific hazard remediation actions such as putting out a fire with on-site equipment or shutting down the power during an electrical emergency of some sort are also good examples of specific action annexes staff should be familiar with ahead of time.
These are just a few of the range of components rightly considered when forming such emergency plans for schools. In order to create the very best plan, a thorough review of many circumstances and variables must be reviewed. For additional information on creating an effective school emergency plan, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is a leading source of information on the subject.
