Shelter in Place and Lockdown Procedures for Schools

Shelter in Place – Lockdown
With school shootings becoming a disturbingly commonplace occurrence across the country and the potential for other dangerous events to occur at any time, identifying effective strategies to protect students and faculty has assumed new importance and relevance today (Williams, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the shelter-in-place plan developed by a security consulting firm, including three specific areas that were viewed as especially valuable as well as three areas of the plan that require improvement. In addition, an assessment concerning the extent to which the shelter-in-place plan provides a concise description of the steps that should be followed in the event of emergency situations is followed by a discussion concerning what types of circumstances would require the activation of the shelter-in-place plan in a school or workplace setting. Finally, a discussion concerning the types of problems that might arise and how they should be addressed is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning shelter-in-place planning is the conclusion.
Review and Analysis
Three areas liked about the plan
1. The use of bullet points and numbered lists helped to quickly communicate the main issues and what steps should be taken if certain events occur;
2. The plan emphasized the need for and utility of coordinating with local police authorities and the American Red Cross;
3. The plan was sufficiently broad in scope to allow for customizing to a particular school or organization setting.
Three areas of improvement
1. Although the plan emphasizes the need to review shelter-in-place procedures with all stakeholders, it is relatively vague concerning who the affected “patrons” may be in a school setting;
2. The plan recommends identifying secondary means for communications in the event primary methods are unavailable or disabled, but does not describe what types of resources should be considered for this purpose;
3. The plan lacks specificity concerning the chain of command that should be followed in activating a shelter-in-place plan as recommended by Sorensen and Shumbert (2002).
Do the instructions relate needed material in a short amount of time with as few as words as possible?
To their credit, the Safe-Wise consultancy firm provides a useful and easy-to-follow set of guidelines that can be used in the event of lockdowns or shelter-in-place circumstances. In addition, as noted above, the bulleted items and numbered lists arranged by type of event (i.e., lockdown or shelter-in-place) provide school officials and other organizational leaders with the step-by-step guidelines that should be followed for each type of event. Moreover, the plan developed by Safe-Wise consistently concisely but effectively stresses the need to ensure that young people are accounted for and supervised at all times during any type of emergency event and are made aware of what is transpiring.
What conditions could you predict you might have in a classroom of students or in your work location if you needed to be secured for an extended period of time?
Sheltering a large group of young learners and staff members in a confined area for extended periods of time will inevitably result in the need for sanitary facilities, uncontaminated air, fresh water and first aid supplies. In addition, if the event extended beyond 24 hours, there would also be a need for food. While food can be rationed for short periods of time, water should never be rationed..
What problems might arise and how would you address them?
While every emergency situation is unique, it is reasonable to suggest that young people and faculty alike may experience trauma or shock in response to a manmade or natural disaster. Therefore, designated staff members should receive training in helping others cope with emergency situations and their identity made known to other staff members. Likewise, the parents of students will be frantic to find out what is going on, what they should do and where they should go until the crisis is resolved. In this regard, the guidance provided by Safe-Wise emphasizes the need to “clearly communicate how parents should respond to the emergency and how their children will be protected” (2008, p. 3).
Conclusion
In any organizational setting, it is axiomatic that “prior planning prevents poor performance,” and the research certainly showed that this is the case with developing and implementing effective shelter-in-place or lockdown procedures. A crisis situation is no time to be scrambling for answers concerning how best to respond, and it is incumbent on school authorities to have solid plans in place to follow when the unexpected occurs. Given the severity of failure in this area, it is reasonable to conclude that shelter-in-place and lockdown protocols should be an integral part of every school’s operating plans today.



References
Safe-Wise Consulting. (2008). Sample lockdown & Shelter in-place procedures [PDF]. Safe-Wise Consulting, Inc. Retrieved from http://safe-wise.com/downloads/Lockdown ShelterinPlace.pdf
Sorenson, J., Shumpert, B. & Vogt, B. (2002). Planning protective action decision-making: Evacuate or shelter-in-place (No. DE-AC05-00OR22725). Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Williams, M. (2016). Shelter-in-place. In EDA 537TE: Crisis management in schools. 2018. [doc.]. Retrieved from Grand Canyon University.


Steps to Follow for a School Shelter-in-Place Plan

The following shelter-in-place plan will be activated when notified to do so by law enforcement or other governmental authorities. It is vitally important for everyone involved to remain calm and avoid panicking.
· Notify everyone in the school of the shelter-in-place plan activation.
· Staff members account for all students throughout the plan activation.
· Post signage concerning where to assemble.
· Move everyone to designated meeting place.
· Young people and staff members should be apprised of the situation and reassured that the shelter-in-place plan was designed to protect them during these types of events.
· Forward telephone calls to the meeting place.
· If the emergency involves the release of toxic substances, deactivate the ventilation air supply and seal the meeting place.
· Await further instructions from competent authorities.