Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

After Evacuation

  • 06/01/19

In the case of an emergency requiring evacuation of a facility, another important aspect to include in emergency plans is where occupants should go and gather in order to determine that everyone has safely left the building. To ensure the fastest, most accurate accountability of building occupants, consider including these steps in your emergency action plan:

  • Designate assembly areas or areas, both inside and outside of the building, where people should gather after evacuating. Assembly locations within the building are often referred to as “areas of refuge.” Make sure your assembly area has sufficient space to accommodate everyone. Exterior assembly areas, used when the building must be partially or completely evacuated, are typically located in parking lots or other open areas.
  • Take a head count after the evacuation. Identify the names and last known locations of anyone not accounted for and pass them to the officials in charge. Accounting for all building occupants following an evacuation is critical. Confusion in the assembly areas can lead to delays in rescuing anyone trapped in the building or unnecessary search-and-rescue operations.
  • Establish a method for accounting for individuals who may not be residents of the facility.
  • Establish procedures for further evacuation in case the incident expands. This may consist of sending people off campus by normal means or providing them with transportation to an offsite location.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management June 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • University of Arizona Approves New Residence Hall

    The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved plans for a new residence hall at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2028 and have the capacity for more than 1,200 students, enforcing a new university expectation that all first-year students live on campus.

  • Myrtle Grove Elementary

    Phased Construction Keeps Students on Campus During Rebuild

    When Escambia County School District needed to replace most of Myrtle Grove Elementary School in Pensacola, Fla., it had three distinct challenges: honor the school's legacy in the community, bring state-of-the-art learning environments to the county, and be seamlessly built on the same site as the active school campus.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.