Emergency Preparedness
Emergency Notification
Southwestern Community College District is committed to a safe educational and work environment for all students and staff, as well as community members. Emergencies can occur and it is the District’s policy to provide timely notification of risks and dangers to students, faculty, and staff members. An emergency is an immediate threat to the health and safety of students or employees.
The District has systems in place for communicating information quickly. The District’s emergency communication response plan is comprised of the following communication components in which any or all may be utilized:
- Telephone calls to home and cellular telephones
- Text messaging to cellular telephones
- Email to all students and employees
- Telephone paging to employee work stations
- Messaging posting on District, colleges and Continuing Education websites and other social media sites
- Posting on campus/site message boards
- Classroom announcements
- Emergency Blue Pole announcements and warning tones
- Press releases
Face to face communication may also be used as a method of communicating immediate/emergency notifications.
The District encourages students to provide their cell phone numbers to the District in order to communicate with them in the event of an emergency. To provide this important information, students can log on to MySWC.
Emergency Response
Southwestern Community College District maintains an Emergency Response Plan that outlines responsibilities of campus personnel during emergencies and a FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan in the event of a natural disaster. These plans outline incident priorities, campus organization, and specific responsibilities of particular units or positions. College units are responsible for developing emergency response and continuity of operations plans for their areas and staff. Campus emergency management provides resources and guidance for the development of these plans.
In the event of an emergency that affects any or all campus locations, the Superintendent/President, Cabinet member or designee will activate the Emergency Team to assess the situation and determine the scope of the emergency. The Superintendent/President, Cabinet member or designee will initiate the communication protocols throughout the organization. The Emergency Team will determine the content of the communication response, the urgency of the response or timely notice parameters, as well as the appropriate components to be activated.
The District's response to most emergencies will involve a Secure Campus, Lockdown, Shelter in Place and/or an Evacuation, full or partial. Students, faculty, and staff members should take immediate steps to protect themselves from immediate danger, such as finding cover when an earthquake occurs.
Featured Video
All staff and faculty members and students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the four District emergency responses. A short video describes those responses