Each semester, Emergency Preparedness Week gives ACC students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to practice what they should do if an emergency or disaster strikes on campus. Gathering feedback about the week’s drills and alerts helps ACC’s Environmental Health, Safety and Insurance Department identify areas needing improvement.

Kristine Elderkin, ACC’s emergency management coordinator, says that while most students and employees cooperated during the latest round of drills in early February, EHS continually seeks to improve evacuation times. Â She encourages people to be aware of all available stairwells when exiting buildings.

Elderkin adds that more students and staff are signing up to receive emergency alerts by phone, however, overall participation is low — particularly for text message alerts.

Emergency notifications currently are voluntary. Later this year students, faculty, and staff will be required to participate in the notification system unless they opt-out, as required by state law. The information provided remains private and is not shared. The EHS Emergency Alert webpage includes information and tutorials about the emergency notification system.

More than 50 faculty, staff and students attended the Crime Prevention seminars presented by ACC District Police. EHS will continue to partner with Campus Police and others to offer practical information and training opportunities.

ACC designates the third week of each semester as Emergency Preparedness Week; the next Emergency Preparedness Week will be June 11-15.

Follow the link below to view a PowerPoint presentation detailing the results from the Spring 2012 Emergency Preparedness Week, or contact Elderkin, [email protected], for more information.

Summary for Emergency Preparedness Week