Guideline 400 – Library Emergency Response Plan

Purpose of the Plan

• A Building Emergency Response Plan is a strategic plan to provide the procedures necessary to cope with most types of emergencies with respect to a specific building.

• The purpose of this plan is to enable staff to perform essential emergency planning and basic functions that can help save lives by outlining simple steps to be taken in the event of an emergency.

• This plan may assign roles and responsibilities to areas and individuals that are directly responsible for emergency response efforts, critical support services, and provides a management structure for coordinating and deploying essential resources.

Scope of the Plan
Any emergency that potentially affects our students, faculty, staff, and visitors within our facility will activate this plan.
An Emergency Response Plan guides preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation actions and may be activated during any of the following incidents, which may include, but are not limited to:

• Active Shooters

• Bombs

• Chemical, biological, radiation, explosive incidents

• Fires (see Guideline 401 – "Emergency Procedures (Fire)")

• Floods

• Inclement Weather

• Medical Emergencies

• Utility Emergencies (see Guideline 402 – "Emergency Procedures (Power Blackout)"

• Disasters to Collections - See Guideline 440 "Disaster Action Team" and its "Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Plan."

• And any other emergency in the building.

Objectives of the Emergency Response Plan
Managing any crisis requires coordinating resources within the Library Building to meet the following objectives:

• Provide safety and security for our staff and patrons

• Tend to victims of both direct and indirect consequences of critical incidents

• Reduce the potential for injury or damage

• Provide factual and timely information to building occupants

Building Contacts
Building Manager Melissa Buttonx5-2356
Other key players within building here:
Director Patrick Dawson x5-2356
Associate Director Joyce Tenney x5-3594
Associate Director Robin Moskal x5-3812
Chief Curator Tom Beck x5-3827
Associate Director Lynda Aldana x5-3468

Emergency Phone Numbers:

Campus Police* x5-5555
Facilities Management x5-2550
Inclement Weather Hotlinex5-6789
University Health Services x5-2542
Office of Environmental Safety & Health x5-2718
University Counseling Center x5-2473
Poison Control Center (800)-222-1222
*Contact Campus Police to reach ambulance, fire, and/or emergency responders.

Communication Chain (phone trees) for Emergencies

To be established within units as needed.
Note provisions in Guideline 672 – "Performance Standards for Working Off Site" for communication within units.

Emergency Notification System:

UMBC has partnered with e2campus to create an emergency notification system using your cell phone's text messaging capabilities and/or your private email account. This notification system will alert subscribers to any campus-related emergency (such as a potential campus safety hazard or campus closure due to weather). Normal text messaging rates apply. There are no additional charges. To sign up go to my.umbc.edu/notifications (\\sharedvol.ad.umbc.edu\Dept\UC\POLICIES AND PROCEDURES\my.umbc.edu\notifications). In addition you may elect to be part of a sub-group for messages specifically related to the facility.
A phone "tree" has also been established for the sharing and dissemination of additional information.

Fire or Smoke

For fire that has not activated the alarm system, pull a fire alarm. For smoke that has not activated the alarm system, contact campus police for guidance.

• The fire alarm panels are small red boxes located on the inside wall of every entrance or emergency exit of the building.

• Once pulled, the alarms will sound and evacuation procedures will go into effect

Evacuation Procedures:

When evacuating follow these steps:

1. Quickly secure workstations and head to the nearest exit or exit stairwell; inform the general public of the need to evacuate along the way. Elevators may not be used.