EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

The purpose of this policy is to identify and explain the communication systems that will be used by the University of Illinois Urbana Campus to communicate with students, faculty and staff during various types of emergencies. It should be noted that some systems are intended for mass communication while others will be used for less widespread emergency notifications. All systems may be used regardless of the situation, as determined by the Campus Emergency Operations Committee (CEOC), the Chancellor’s Office, or the Division of Public Safety in the interest of public safety.

Mass Communication during a Major Campus Emergency
The Urbana campus will utilize any or all of the following mass messaging communications systems to deliver emergency notifications and safety instructions to the general campus population of students, faculty, and staff during major campus emergencies. These systems include: Emergency notification system, NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Emergency Alert System Notifications, Emergency Web Alert system, Public broadcasting media outlets (on and off campus). An explanation of the use and capabilities of these systems including their activation procedure follows:

1. “UI-Emergency” Emergency Notification System:
   1. Description: “UI-Emergency” is a mass notification system designed to send messages via text, cell phone, email, and/or land line phone to all faculty, staff, and students.
   2. Activation Procedure: The decision to activate this system during a campus wide emergency will be made by the Chancellor, Provost, Executive Director of Public Safety, President, or a designee of one of these officers.
   3. Participation: All faculty, staff, and students are pre-enrolled in the UI-Emergency system using their campus email address. Faculty, staff, and students can provide additional contact information by registering at http://emergency.illinois.edu.
   4. Alternative uses: This system may also be used by University departments for emergency call back lists during minor emergencies.
      
      
2. NOAA/NWS Emergency Alert System Notifications
   1. Description: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association / National Weather Service (NOAA/NWS) emergency message system, featuring Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), to notify campus offices of an existing non-weather related threat or significant emergency having the ability to substantially disrupt campus operations.
   2. Activation Procedure: The Urbana Campus Emergency Operation Committee (CEOC) core team, upon learning of a threat or emergency will notify the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency (CCEMA) Director requesting the issuance of a SAME emergency message to Champaign County regarding the threat situation and advising of the steps to be taken. The Urbana campus will provide the written text to be conveyed in the SAME alert message. The Director of CCEMA will verify and forward the message to the NWS in Lincoln, Illinois. The NWS in Lincoln will verify the authenticity of the message and broadcast the SAME alert message to Champaign County. University departments are responsible for possessing a SAME capable NWS radio in good working order to receive these notifications.
   3. Weather Related Use: This system will continue to be used to notify campus offices of weather related safety alert bulletins.
      
      
3. Emergency Web Alert System
   1. Description: The Urbana campus will use college and departmental websites, as well as high-traffic campus-level pages as a notification vehicle when there is an existing threat or significant emergency having the ability to substantially disrupt campus operations or injure campus community members. Activation of the Emergency Web Alert System (EWAS) enables a pop-up information screen each time one of the above mentioned web pages is accessed.
      1. Pages REQUIRED to include the EWAS coding: College and department homepages, all top level campus sites (on the www.uiuc.edu or www.illinois.edu domain), University Library homepage (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/) and catalog gateway (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/catalog/), Phonebook Gateway (http://webtools.uiuc.edu/ows/PH), Express E-mail (https://login.express.cites.uiuc.edu/), UI Now, Public Affairs homepage, and the Division of Public Safety homepage.
      2. Pages ENCOURAGED to include the EWAS coding: All units on the Illinois campus are asked to identify web pages that are used by large numbers of their on-campus constituents as an entry point to uiuc.edu online (bookmarked pages). These pages should include the EWAS coding.
      
      **Any website on campus can acquire and include the EWAS coding. See the Public Affairs website, http://www.publicaffairs.uiuc.edu.
      
   2. Activation Procedure: This means of communication will be activated through Public Affairs, acting upon a request from the CEOC core team or by direction of the Chancellor and/or his/her designee. Once the dissemination of an emergency mass communication message has been authorized, the Office of Public Affairs or its designee is responsible to create the message to be released, obtain approval from CEOC or the Chancellor’s Office for distribution, and activate the system.
      
      
4. Public broadcast media outlets (campus & cities)
   1. Description: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will work with local broadcast and online media outlets to notify campus offices of an existing threat or significant emergency having the ability to substantially disrupt campus operations.
   2. Activation Procedure: This means of communication will be activated through the Office of Public Affairs acting upon a request from the CEOC core team or by direction of the Chancellor and/or his/her designee. Once the dissemination of a public broadcast media outlet message has been authorized, the Office of Public Affairs will coordinate the development and dissemination of the news release or media advisory through the aforementioned media outlets as a public safety message from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Authorization for Emergency Mass Communications
The Chancellor or his/her designee authorizes the activation and use of this system during a campus emergency based on recommendations and/or discussion with the CEOC core team. During a life threatening emergency, the Chancellor may act alone based on information and recommendations from the Executive Director of Public Safety. In the absence of the Chancellor, the Executive Director of Public Safety has the authority to request this action with an immediate briefing to the Provost and other core team members to follow. In the event that the following life safety incidents develop on the Urbana campus, the University of Illinois Police field supervisor has the authority to immediately initiate messages using these systems.

• A verified active threat/shooter,
• A major hazardous material incident requiring immediate evacuation of areas beyond the contained facility, and/or
• A large explosion of a suspicious nature.

It is intended that all of these systems would work simultaneously with other campus emergency communications systems to keep students, faculty, and staff informed during a campus emergency.

Other Campus Emergency Communication Systems
There continue to be a number of other communication methods employed by the campus to transmit urgent messages to all or select portions of the faculty, staff, and student populations. The precise method or combination of methods employed for a specific situation is dependent upon a number of factors (i.e. the size of the event, area of campus impacted, nature of the event, etc.) including the availability of the various communication methods. These methods include:

1. The Telephone Alert System (description follows);
2. The Mass Electronic Mail System (description follows);
3. "265-UIPD" (description follows);
4. Division of Public Safety – Critical Incident Call List (description follows);
5. Messages posted to the University of Illinois home page website;
6. Information provided by the Office of Public Affairs to local broadcast and online media outlets.

The Telephone Alert System
The Telephone Alert System is a means of transmitting special messages throughout the campus using a pyramid telephone call schedule. This system will be used by the Office of the Chancellor when it is necessary to transmit brief urgent messages to all or certain large portions of the faculty, staff, and students.

The contact information directory is updated and issued annually by the Division of Public Safety and distributed to all offices on campus having a responsibility to receive and/or relay messages pursuant to this system. Messages transmitted using the Telephone Alert System typically include information concerning emergency weather conditions, energy alerts, and other urgent concerns affecting the entire campus. These messages are initiated in the Office of the Chancellor and are usually worded as follows:

"This is Ms. or Mr. __________ at Extension 3-XXXX in the [Campus office] with the following Telephone Alert message: __________ please relay this information in accordance with the Telephone Alert System."

The message should then be relayed as quickly as possible to all appropriate individuals under the jurisdiction of the unit receiving the call.

Should there be any suspicion of misrepresentation, doubt as to the identity of the caller, or question as to the legitimacy of the call, verification should be made by calling the Executive Director of Public Safety at 333-1216. Questions relating to the content of the message should also be directed to that number.

Each department is responsible for making certain that individuals under its supervision are aware of the Telephone Alert System including how the messages are received and how they are transmitted to other offices under its jurisdiction.

The Mass Electronic Mail System
The Mass Electronic Mail System will reach students, faculty and staff through the placement of an electronic email message in all inboxes. The system can be accessed only after authorization from a member of the CEOC core group and is designed for use on those occasions when it is imperative to transmit critical emergency or safety information to a wide segment of the campus. The Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services group is responsible to maintain the system.

"265-UIPD"
The campus has established an emergency telephone message system to provide timely information about the nature, scope and actions that staff and/or students could or should take in the event of a critical incident. The telephone number is 265-8473 (265-UIPD).

Activation procedure: Once an event has been declared an emergency, the Public Safety telecommunicators at 333-1216 will be notified. Public Safety telecommunicators will contact the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) to request a telephone message script. Public Affairs will draft the message and obtain approval from the CEOC core team and indicate if it is necessary to post the message and additional information on the web or send a mass e-mail.

Once the message is approved, Public Affairs staff will fax and/or email the message to Public Safety telecommunicators, and to the webmaster if necessary. The message will be placed on the 265-UIPD phone number voice message system. Public Affairs will also phone and email the message to University telephone operators. The message will return to the non-emergency message once the CEOC core team declares the incident to be over. Questions about the "265-UIPD" emergency number should be addressed to the Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs at 333-5010.

“DPS” Critical Incident Call List
The “DPS” Critical Incident Call List is used to contact campus administrators and departmental personnel who have responsibilities for directing various campus operations during critical incidents. These critical incidents are defined as those situations which involve, or have the potential to cause, major injury or death, loss of material resources, or could result in a major disruption to the campus community. The notification list includes the name and contact information for the primary contact and a back-up contact. Contact information typically includes office and personal land line telephone numbers, office and personal cell phone numbers, and pager numbers.

The Division of Public Safety is solely responsible for updating and distributing the notification list to telecommunicators in the Division of Public Safety and to the individuals who are on the notification list. Telecommunicators in the Division of Public Safety will notify these individuals according to the type of event.

Questions about the “DPS” Critical Incident Call List should be addressed to the Executive Director of Public Safety at 333-1216.

 

Further questions concerning this policy statement should be directed to the Executive Director of Public Safety, 333-1216.

Date Revised: June 12, 2008
Date Issued: August 3, 1981
Issued by: Executive Director, Public Safety
Approved by: Executive Director, Public Safety
Emergency Plans, Environmental Health and Safety, Security, and Risk Management
Section V/A - 2