Dear Loggers,
We are writing to inform you of the upcoming all-campus lockdown/shelter-in-place drill on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, at 10:45 a.m.
Practicing emergency response is critical to preparedness. Primary drill objectives are to practice and test emergency communications, campus lockdown procedures, and sheltering in place. This will help prepare our Puget Sound community for potential circumstances involving a violent act or threat on or near campus.
Security Services Staff, along with Tacoma Police officers, will tour buildings during the drill for evaluation purposes. We will review coordinated university and police response procedures for violent act/threat circumstances.
Wednesday’s drill will begin at 10:45 a.m. with an announcement that the drill has begun and to follow campus lockdown procedures. The information will be sent via text message through our Logger Alert system and campus-wide email. Upon drill conclusion, an “All Clear” message will be sent through Logger Alert. Total drill time will be roughly five minutes. Please follow the directions below based on your campus location during the drill.
Residential Building Lockdown/Shelter-In-Place Procedures
- Resident Directors and Assistants are responsible for their respective housing facilities. If present during the drill, they should tour their buildings quickly to verbally communicate lockdown instructions to residents. They should check exterior doors and windows to ensure they are locked and closed.
- Residents should lock their room doors and windows, close blinds, and turn off room lights.
- Residents should take cover by staying low to the floor, away from doors and windows, and as close to interior hallway walls as possible. Avoid gathering together in groups and try to spread out within rooms as much as feasible.
- Residents should silence cell phones, remain quiet, and wait for the “all-clear” announcement via text and campus email.
Academic and Administrative Building Lockdown/Shelter-In-Place Procedures (includes Wheelock Student Center, Fieldhouse, Chapel, and the Library where staff in those buildings will guide occupant response)
- Security staff will remotely lock exterior doors of academic and administrative buildings when the drill commences.
- Faculty (who are teaching during the drill) should lock their classroom doors, secure windows, close blinds, and turn off room lights while instructing students to remain in the classroom, stay low to the floor, and away from doors and windows.
- Other faculty and staff should follow lockdown/shelter-in-place procedures in their work areas.
- Try to spread out as much as possible within rooms near interior hallway walls.
- Building occupants should have cell phones on but in silent mode, remain quiet, and wait for the “all-clear” announcement via text and campus email.
- Faculty and staff do need to complete personal accountability forms for this drill but are expected to be familiar with the process.
If you are outside when the drill commences, immediately seek shelter in the nearest building if you can enter before it is locked. If you are outside under an actual emergency lockdown situation and are unable to access a nearby building before it is locked, you should leave campus immediately.
If you are on campus during the drill, please take note of the following information:
- During the drill, Security Services will only be available for emergency assistance. Please conduct routine business with Security Services outside of drill times.
- Your patience immediately following the drill is appreciated, as it takes a few minutes to get the campus unlocked and for Security Services to resume normal operations.
It is important in an emergency situation that we can reach you. To receive emergency messages, students, faculty, and staff need to have their cell phone numbers listed with the university, along with their other contact information. Please take the following action:
- Students, please review and update your cell phone number through the portal at https://my.pugetsound.edu/
by selecting My Information → Personal Information and making the necessary changes. - Faculty and staff, please review and update your cell phone number through the portal at https://my.pugetsound.edu/
by selecting HR-Self Service → Personal Information and making the necessary changes.
Send feedback or questions you may have following the drill to either security@pugetsound.edu
Stay Safe,
David Ferber, Ph.D., Director of Security Services
Stacy Kelly, Chief Risk Management Officer & Assistant General Counsel