Emergency Response Guide
(January 2017)
This emergency response guide is designed to help Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I) workers protect, preserve, and promote the safety, health, and well-being of all of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors and to protect and preserve the resources of the Church. It also provides information on what to do during an incident, actual emergency, and its aftermath. This guide should be used for inservice training before an incident or emergency occurs.
An incident is defined as any event or circumstance which leads to unintended and/or unnecessary harm including an accident, injury, criminal act against persons or property, damage or loss of equipment, or property damage connected with S&I. In programs with multiple personnel, an employee should be assigned to be responsible for safety matters (at single person programs, it is the employee at the program). In preparation for an emergency situation, the assigned employee should do the following:
Create a safety and emergency plan for the S&I facility.
Ensure that teachers and staff receive regular training on safety matters (at single person programs, training on safety matters should be reviewed regularly).
Ensure that the safety and emergency plan is updated at least yearly and distributed to all personnel. This plan should include updating the telephone numbers on the “Emergency Information” page of this guide
Media Involvement
In most areas the media are aware of emergency calls and may come to investigate.
Church buildings are not public property. You may deny the media access.
When dealing with the media, remember to protect the privacy rights of all persons involved.
Whenever possible, defer media questions to civil authorities on the scene.
Remember that saying “I don’t know” may be your best answer. It is least likely to be misquoted.