Pandemic & Emergency Planning

Emergency Preparedness on Canadian Campuses

March 27 and 28, 2008

Day 1

Introduction

How prepared are Canadian universities?

Gary Brewer

V.P. Finance and Administration

York University

A Canada-wide survey of universities relative to emergency planning was undertaken by CAUBO in late 2007.  The aggregate results of the survey will be shared with the participants.

When Tragedy Strikes - The Dawson College Experience

Mr. Richard Filion

Director General (CEO)

Dawson College

On September 13, 2006, Dawson College suffered a horrifying, unforeseeable and unfathomable assault on its students and staff. Dawson admits it was unprepared for such an event, not because it had no emergency plans, but because who could have imagined that a force so violent and unpredictable would lay siege to its peaceful existence. As Director General, Richard Filion is the chief executive of the College; September 13 has thrust him into leadership roles on a variety of related subjects. In the 14 months since the attack, he has led the College into recovery by responding to concerns about emergency preparedness, enhanced security installations and communications networks, and the support a college can give to every member of its community. But the issue he returns to again and again is how, as a society, as educators, we must take our social responsibility seriously to find the root causes of these eruptions of violence so that such tragedies can be prevented.

Can Violence on Campus be Prevented? A Multi-step Approach to the Prevention of Violence and for the Management of Risks across the Continuum of Violence

Dr. Phil Klassen

Forensic Psychiatrist

Law and Mental Health Program

Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

University of Toronto

Dr. Philip Klassen will address what policies, procedures and systems should be in place to prevent violence in the workplace, recognizing that universities are complex environments with all types of interactions occurring between students, faculty, staff and community.  Dr. Klassen and members of the forensic psychiatry group at CAMH have consulted on violence for law enforcement (OPP, Toronto Police Emergency Planning, FBI, CSIS), the judicial system (judges, crown attorneys, probationary officers), industry, and professional governing/regulatory bodies.

Dr. Klassen will provide participants with a step by step approach to developing a system for the prevention of violence and for managing risks across the continuum of violence.  The process includes policy development, promotion and roll-out of the policy, creation of a risk management team, processing of reports of unusual behaviour, risk assessment and management of identified cases and safe termination.

Student Counselling to Recognize “at risk” Individuals and how to Intervene Before Violence Occurs

Dr.Philip Wood

Associate Vice President (Student Affairs)& Dean of Students

McMaster University

In this presentation Dr. Wood will review the current landscape of mental health issues and counseling centre usage in Canada and the U.S. Rampage shootings are almost always suicides, hence suicide prevention is violence prevention. Current suicide awareness programs in use in Canada (QPR and Mental Health First Aid) will be introduced. Profiling is not the answer since according to a 2003 U.S. NRC report: “There is no accurate or useful profile of the school shooter”. A better approach is Threat Assessment which will be discussed. Many universities also have committees to support students in difficulty or committees of concern to identify students in need of support. McMaster and other universities have also created “Assessment of Behavioural Risk Teams”. The folder- “Connections: Identifying and Referring a Student in Difficulty” will be distributed . This folder and a memo are used at McMaster to communicate with faculty members to engage them in identifying students who are exhibiting mental health issues. Finally, changes to the Student Code of Conduct that allow for “voluntary withdrawal” will be discussed.

Lunch

Are You Ready? Two Ways of Testing Your Plan

Live Simulation Exercise – Lessons Learned from a Recent University Experience

Jacques Girard

Head of Security Services Deaprtment

Université de Sherbrooke

State of Emergency at the Université de Sherbrooke

In the fall of 2007, the Université de Sherbrooke campus rallied in response to a security guard spotting, on a video surveillance camera, an individual carrying a rifle. The university responded, as provided for in its emergency plan for cases involving a sniper and hostage situation, with full deployment, response, negotiation and resolution capacity. The university’s emergency response team, the medical response team, the Sherbrooke police department and others responded accordingly. Fortunately, the incident was all part of a large-scale simulation exercise to test the university’s preparedness. Jacques Girard was in charge of planning the simulation exercise. He will describe what is involved in developing an effective simulation exercise, how the exercise unfolded, how the university fared, and the main lessons learned

The Table Top Exercise – A Value-Added Tool for Training and Evaluation Emergency Management and Recovery Capabilities:  Experience an actual Table Top Exercise

Les Brinkworth

Leader Emergency Preparedness & Business Continuity

University of Alberta

In this table top exercise, developed specially for the workshop, you will  participate in a simulated emergency.  You will experience how an Emergency Operations Centre functions in an evolving crisis, how the institution coordinates with local authorities, how executives are called into the process, how a command and control system supports leadership and management through a crisis and how stakeholder responses may be totally unexpected yet managed within the system.  Experience for yourself how you can add to your emergency management tool box and enhance your institution’s confidence, and its efficiency and effectiveness in emergency management.

The Rights of the Individual Versus the Rights of the Collectivity: At what Point do Concerns for Safety and Security Override the Rights of Individuals?

Daniel J. Michaluk

Associate

Hicks Morley Barristers and Solicitors (Toronto) Toronto Office

Mr. Dan Michaluk of Hicks Morley will review the legal considerations and the questions and issues that universities and colleges face in developing policy to address the threat of catastrophic on-campus violence.  The various reports released on the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting all stressed the importance of sharing information about potential threats in order to conduct proactive risk-based assessments.  Hicks Morley will provide suggestions as to how universities and colleges might achieve this goal in their policies without running a foul of individual privacy and human rights and will also address how emergency plans can be structured to facilitate decisive action with minimal legal risk.

Refreshment Break

Training and Communications

Coming to Grips with Campus Emergency Messaging – Understanding the Key Social and Technical Factors that Influence their Effectiveness during an Emergency

Dr. Gordon A. Gow

Assistant Professor

Graduate Program in Communications and Technology (MACT)

University of Alberta

The tragic shootings at Virginia Tech and Dawson College have led post-secondary educational institutions across Canada to investigate and introduce new emergency messaging capabilities on campus.  However, there is a real concern within the campus community, and beyond, that new systems are being implemented with a modest understanding of key social and technical factors that will ultimately influence their effectiveness during an emergency.

The aim of this presentation is to provide an overview of the various issues and considerations involved in the design, deployment and management of campus emergency messaging systems.   It will cover the latest in research findings and developments relevant to campus alerting, placing them within the context of Canadian post-secondary educational institutions.

Campus Emergency Messaging Systems – A Look at a Sample of Technological Approaches Recently Adopted by Canadian Universities and Colleges

Mr. Ken Burt
Vice-President Finance and Administration
Dalhousie University

Mrs. Debbie Jones

Director of ITS

The University of Western Ontario

Draft Guidelines for University Emergency Planning in Ontario and for a Standardized Training Program on Emergency Management

Michael Markicevic
Chair, Security Guidelines Sub Committee
Assistant Vice-President
Campus Services & Business Operations
York University

Elgin Austen

Chair of the COU Security Group on Training and Development

University of Western Ontario

Member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police

The Council of Ontario Universities Roundtable on Security recommended the creation of two groups tasked with the following: 1) to develop guidelines for emergency planning and campus security (including equipment and staffing considerations); and 2) to advise on the development of a standardized training package that universities could customize for their own use.  The package would address the training needs for management, counselling and support services, faculty, staff and students.  The draft findings and recommendations will be shared with the participants.