News and Updates

Change in Fire Alarm Re-Entry Procedures

Exception - Traditional Residences

Note - Building Emergency Team (BET) Volunteers

August 19, 2009 – Commencing immediately, following a fire alarm, building occupants are permitted to re-enter when advised to do so by a BET volunteer, when the bells/ horns and strobes have ceased.   BET volunteers, wearing a blue vest, are advised to listen for the bells/ horns to stop and then give the all-clear, rather than wait for a runner to communicate this.

On behalf of the university, Fire Safety would like to thank all BET and BEC volunteers for your efforts in maintaining safety and to building occupants for your cooperation and prompt evacuation during a building emergency.

This new initiative will apply to all buildings except our traditional residences. Your continued support is appreciated.  Please feel free to leave your comments at firesafety@uwo.ca .

 

BET Luncheon A Success

Friday, May 22, 2009 – The BET/BEC Luncheon was a great success with nearly 200 of our 486 members present.   About 60 Fire Warden vests were traded in for the new BET vest and we are ordering 100 more so everyone will have a current vest.   Collaboration at the tables, during our luncheon learning session, was very active and resulted in many questions being asked.   Fire Safety, which now is a unit within Campus Police, will be keeping their web site up-dated to the extent possible as well as initiating a FireSafety@uwo.ca  email address in the near future.   The email address is intended to have an automated response but will be checked daily and respond to issues of immediate concern and for more general questions there will be a Q & A component on the Fire Safety web site.   The goal of all of this is to provide the opportunity for greater communications between the BET/BEC members and Fire Safety.

Many thanks to everyone for taking on these responsibilities.   Your service is very valuable to the university.

 

Question – If someone in our facility has a medical emergency and a 911 call is made from a cell phone, what happens?

Answer – A 911 call from a cell phone goes to the London Police emergency communications centre.   They will redirect the call to EMS for an ambulance and also back to Campus Police to advise us of the situation.   EMS will advise Campus Police Communications they have sent an ambulance.  Campus Police will respond to the source of the emergency.   (A 911 call from a campus phone goes directly to Campus Police)

 

Question – How do we address mobility issues and evacuation?

Answer – There needs to be broad communications, to ensure a high level of awareness, identifying persons with mobility issues requiring assistance.    It is important that everyone feels supported in building evacuations

 

Question – What is the management strategy, during an evacuation, for persons with mobility problems?

Answer – In traditional residences persons with permanent disabilities are on a list and during fire alarms these persons are contacted by telephone and updated on the situation.  In other
circumstances areas of refuge are offices or suites and stairwells or landings.  Persons can choose to remain in an office or suite and call Campus 911 and apprise the Communications Operator of their situation or they can wait in a stairwell or landing area but they should ensure that someone can report their location to the responding emergency personnel. Building emergency team members are encouraged to stay with the impaired person(s), but that is not always possible

 

Hand Sanitizers Located Throughout Campus

As you may have noticed, new Purell Hand Sanitizer Stations have, and are, being installed across campus in various locations.  These stations contain Purell hand sanitizer that will kill 99.99% of germs and thus prevent the spread of illness.

You may recall some stories of last year; the Norwalk outbreak at Mount Allison and St. Francis Xavier Universities or the Gastrointestinal Virus Outbreak at Guelph University. Here at Western, the Emergency Response Committee and Western Health Services are being proactive by providing and encouraging the use of the hand sanitizers as well as general hygiene procedures to hopefully prevent a similar problem from occurring here at the University. Various posters promoting proper hygiene and washing hands can also be seen across campus.

Another hot topic of discussion is the H5N1 “Bird Flu” strain. Experts encourage flu shots for everyone along with proper hygiene to prevent the flu.

For more information please contact Western Health Services or the Middlesex-London Health Unit.

Prepared At Western

Fire Safety and Emergency Management Staff are constantly on the forefront of Emergency Planning. Our close working realtionships with Western Community Partners as well as outside Emergency Response Agencies have allowed us to create a dynamic Disaster Plan which is utilized to guide an Emergency Response of any magnitude. Education, training and practical exercises have been conducted with identified staff and infrastructure redundancies have been implemented. This is all in an effort to ensure communications, tactics and all other aspects of emergency planning and response are ready and available. Western is prepared to resolve any situation efficiently and effectively.  

To ensure the entire Western Community is as prepared as we can be, we have created a forum where we can present this information to everyone utilizing Western's WebCT program.

To access Emergency Plans and other additional Emergency Preparedness information please log into WebCT using your standard email account and click the Emergency Preparedness Course in your course list.

 

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