How Effective Are Existing University Emergency Operations Plans?
Eighty-six percent of respondents in the Margolis Healy Campus Safety Survey 2015indicated that their university has developed an emergency operations plan that addresses threats specific to their institution. However, only 54.7 percent said their university had conducted a comprehensive hazard and vulnerability assessment, which is often instrumental in developing an effective all-hazards emergency operations plan. More than a quarter of employees surveyed said their university had never conducted an active shooter exercise, either tabletop, functional or full-scale. Thirty-one percent of participants said their institution has no staff dedicated to emergency preparedness efforts. In two-year institutions, that rate increases to 41.2 percent.
Less than half of respondents acknowledged that their institution conducts routine post-event meetings with emergency preparedness personnel to evaluate current plans, assess and address changes, or discuss other potential gaps in preparedness.