Emergency Notification
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At the Prince William Sound College (PWSC), the College Director or designee should be contacted at the first indication of an emergency. The College Director may be notified by calling 834-1662 or visiting Room 141B in the main campus building. Depending on the nature of the emergency, it may be necessary to phone 911 first and then contact the College Director or designee. However, if you call 911, it is still important to contact the College Director or designee because local emergency responders may not notify the College Director or designee that they are responding to an emergency on campus. In the evening hours, please call 911 first, and then notify PWSC administration by calling 661-809-2347. The Housing Manager may also be contacted by calling 907-834-1634 during business hours or 907-831-1660 during non-business hours.
The College Director or designee will notify the campus or the appropriate segment of the community, upon verification of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of some of all students or employees occurring on campus. The College Director or designee will take into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification, and initiate the notification system, unless notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency. This notification may occur via PWSC email, broadcasts over campus telephones, calls teach student’s residence hall room, or through the UA Alerts Notification System which allows participants to choose to be contacted via text message, phone, or email. Students and employees are automatically enrolled in UA Alerts. To update your contact information in UA alerts go to http://uaalert.alaska.edu/. In addition, the PWSC Incident Management Team (IMT) will initiate a “phone tree” system to attempt to notify employees by email, phone, and/or text message as soon as possible.
As soon as is practical, the College director or designee will assemble members of the PWSC IMT who will assist the College Director to manage the emergency. PWSC IMT members include the College Director, Student Services Administrator, Administrative Services Director, Assistant to the Director, Academic Affairs Director, Student Affairs Director, Administrative Services Director, Director of Workforce Development &Training, Copper Basin Extension Center Director, and Cordova Extension Center Director. If the College Director or designee has not already made an emergency notification, the IMT will determine who should be notified, decide the content of the notification, and initiate the notification system.
The PWSC IMT will notify and may consult the Anchorage campus Incident Management Team. The IMT has both the decision-making and financial authority needed to address emergencies on campus. The IMT may ask the Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) to help respond to the emergency. The C-Cert is a volunteer group of faculty and staff members who receive periodic training on how to be a first responder including fire-fighting, triage, firs-aid, and light search-and-rescue. The C-CERT can be contacted by calling 834-1620 during business house and 907-831-1182 after hours. The IMT also receives C-CERT training. The IMT meets once a semester for training and to review campus emergency plans. After the initial notification, the IMT, C-CERT, or their agents may issue subsequent notifications to the PWSC campus community. they may post flyers at each entrance to academic buildings affected by the emergency. Likewise, Residence Life may post flyers at the entrance to residence halls and the front door of each apartment that is affected by the emergency. Valdez Police or the IMT may use public address systems on the main campus building or in the student housing complex. Valdez Police or the IMT may make announcements using speakers on patrol cars or by walking around campus and using megaphones. The College Director and Assistant to the Director may also disseminate information to the larger Valdez community by contacting local media including radio stations and appropriate agencies.
In the event that a building needs to be evacuated, the occupants will be directed to the emergency assembly area. The IMT may provide information regarding where events scheduled for that building have been relocated. In the event that the entire PWSC campus needs to be evacuated, the IMT may indicate the campus is closed. In the event of a campus-wide evacuation, on campus residents would be asked to stay with relatives or friends that live in or around Valdez. If on campus residents do not have local relatives or friends off campus. Housing will coordinate alternative housing for on campus residents. In the event of an emergency, the IMT may ask everyone to shelter-in-place.
The IMT and the Administrative Services Director make safety announcements and reminders to the College community throughout the year. When the IMT needs to inform the campus community about school closures due to snow or other safety issues, notifications will be made using the following forms of communication:
- PWSC Website
- Your PWSC-assigned email inbox
- Radio stations KVAK 93.3 FM and KCHU 770 AM
Once a year, campus building evacuation drills occur across the entire campus, In coordination with campus building evacuation drills, PWSC will publish its emergency response and evacuation procedures by including a link to the Emergency Operations Plan in a campus-wide email announcement. The Administrative Services Director keeps a description of each drill including the date and time and whether the drill was announced or unannounced. To see the evacuation results for a particle building on campus, see the Administrative Services Director.
Both college employees and students are invited to participate in emergency preparedness training exercises once per year. In every planned exercise, there is an after-action review that is written and distributed to the C-CERT and administration. The Administrative Services Director keeps a description including dates and times of the exercises and whether they were announced or unannounced.
Cordova and Copper Basin Extension Centers
At the Copper Basin or Cordova extension centers, the Center Director or designee should be contacted at the first indication of an emergency. The Copper Basin Extension Center Director can be notified by calling 907-822-3673. The Cordova Extension Center Director can be reached by calling 907-424-7598. Depending on the nature of the emergency, it may be necessary to phone 911 first and then contact the Center Director. However, if you call 911, it is still important to contact the Center Director because local emergency responders may not notify the Director that they are responding to an emergency on campus.
The Extension Center Director or designee will notify the IMT on the Valdez Campus to assist in managing the emergency. The Extension Center Director or the IMT will notify the appropriate segment of the community, upon verification of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of some or all students or employees occurring at that site. The IMT and/or Extension Center Director will take into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification, and initiate the notification system, unless notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency. This notification will be communicated in person due to the small size of each building. See the Valdez Campus section above for a description of the role and response plan of the IMT and C-CERT for PWSC.
Subsequent notifications may be made via the respective community’s radio station (KXGA 90.5 FM in Glennallen, or KCHU 88.1 FM in Cordova), by email, or be conducted by other means available within those smaller communities.