Emergency Notifications – Alert Beacons and Red Alert System

Background:

Emergency Notifications are an important component of any modern campus’s safety protocols. Additionally, having an Emergency Notification process is a legal requirement under The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act, signed in 1990. The safety of HSC’s students, staff, patients, and guests is a top priority for the institution.  HSC has invested considerable resources in its “RED ALERT!” Emergency Notification process so our community has the benefit of a robust and updated system.

How it works:

In conjunction with leadership, Communications sends out Emergency Notifications when deemed appropriate. The system will notify our campus in a variety of ways to try to reach all of us as quickly as possible. Individuals will receive a direct communication via text, email, and voice message to the contact details they filled out in myHSC. Hence, it is very important that everyone in the HSC community that needs to receive these notifications makes sure they have the current and preferred phone number(s) and email address they want to receive emergency notifications. 

Mass notifications will also be sent simultaneously to the individual notifications when appropriate. These come in the form of messages to the Institution’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, activation of the 50 Alertus beacons stationed throughout campus, and activation of the system’s Desktop alert mechanism. The beacons and their location are given below in the ALERT BEACON SECTION. These physical beacons will send out an audible and visual alarm when activated. The beacons will also provide additional information on the emergency via the display screen, so if you see a beacon activated you are encouraged to go to the beacon and read the message scrolling on its display.

The Desktop Notification utility is new to our campus as of October 2020. When appropriate some Emergency Notifications will be sent directly to the campus’s computers. This will be an audio and visual message that will pop up directly on your monitor providing instruction on the emergency. In most cases, this will be in the form of a small ticker that run across the top of the screen. For a couple notifications, like active threat or tornado warning, the Desktop notification will be full screen. If the computer has audio the message attached to the warning will also be read aloud. The Desktop notifications are set to run for two minutes, but they can be closed at any time by the user. For the ticker just hit the ‘X’ in the top right corner within the ticker, for the full page just click the acknowledge button in the middle of the screen.

What type of notifications can you expect to receive via this system:

The following are the templates we have set up Emergency Notifications for:

• RED ALERT! Lockdown
• RED ALERT! Shelter in Place
• Red Alert! Fire Alarm Activation
• Red Alert! Fire alarm all clear notice.
• RED ALERT! ACTIVE THREAT
• RED ALERT! BOMB THREAT EVACUATION.
• RED ALERT! HAZMAT RELEASE on Campus
• RETURN TO NORMAL OPERATIONS
• Red alert! Severe Weather Warning
• RED ALERT! Tornado Warning
• UNTHSC and clinics to reopen (when)
• Red Alert! Winter Weather Closure
• RED ALERT: UNTHSC is on an XX-hour weather delay
• Red alert: SYSTEM TEST

To give a little background on what you can expect from this system, most of the Emergency Notifications will be related to weather or school closure events. So while we are prepared for many exigencies, many of which are dangerous situations, it is most likely you will receive notifications like we have had historically.

HSC will run a system test on the Emergency Notification system twice a year. Both will be done within the first two weeks of the fall and spring semesters and will be a full test of the system. Meaning the individual and mass notification utilities will all be employed. The goal of the test is two-fold. First, to test the actual components of the system and equally important to familiarize the HSC community what an Emergency Notification looks and sounds like so they can quickly utilize the information when an actual emergency occurs. If you have any questions about HSC’s Emergency Notification program, please contact Safety at (817) 735-2245.

Alert Beacon Section

In the event of an emergency, UNTHSC staff will activate wall-mounted Alert Beacons in prominent locations throughout the UNTHSC campus to complement the Red Alert system.
Purpose

The purpose of activating an Alert Beacon is to capture the attention of building occupants at a distance with audio and visual alarms. Upon activation, the beacon displays a custom message about the nature of the emergency and how to respond.

Instruction

If you hear or see an Alert Beacon activate:

• Locate the closest beacon
• Read the custom message
• Follow the message instructions

Examples

The UNTHSC may activate the Alert Beacons

• Natural Hazards (tornados, winter weather)
• Technological Hazards (gas leak, fire)
• Human-Caused Threats (campus violence, bomb threat)

Locations

Carl E. Everett Education and Administration (EAD)

• EAD 108 – Luibel Hall
• EAD  291
• EAD  506
• EAD  514
• EAD  532
• EAD  703
• EAD  719

Founders’ Activity Center (FAC)

• FAC Cardio
• FAC Group Exercise
• FAC Reception
• FAC Stage

Health Pavilion  (HP)

• HP Level 1 (North)
• HP Level 1 (South)
• HP Level 2 (North)
• HP Level 2 (South)
• HP Level 3 (North)
• HP Level 3 (South)
• HP Level 4 (North)
• HP Level 4 (South)
• HP Level 5 (North)
• HP Level 5 (South)
• HP Level 6 (North)
• HP Level 6 (South)

Interdisciplinary Research & Education Building (IREB)

• IREB 1st FL Lobby

Lena Pope Early Learning Center ( Day Care)

• Day Care Lobby

Library (LIB)

• LIB  Level 1
• LIB  Level 2(Information Desk)
• LIB  Level 3 (North)
• LIB  Level 3 ( South)
• LIB  Level 4 (North)

Medical Education and Training (MET)

• MET 111
• MET 119
• MET 124 – Auditorium
• MET 125 – Auditorium
• MET  420
• MET  470
• MET  510
• MET  520
• MET Level 1 (Four Star Cafe)
• MET Level 2 (Elevators)
• MET Level 3 (Elevators)
• MET Level 4 (Elevators)
• MET Level 5 (Elevators)

Research and Education (RES)

• RES 100 – Everett Hall
• RES 114 – Beyer Hall
• RES  Gross Anatomy Lab
• RES  326