by Skip Anderson
Quick: What would you do if your office were in the path of a tornado? How would you minimize the risk to you and your colleagues in the event of exposure to toxic biological agents?

If your answers involve leaving the building or reaching for duct tape and sheets of plastic, you are mistaken. While your answers are incorrect, take heart that someone from your department will soon know exactly what to do. Better still, they will soon teach you and your colleagues how to respond to a variety of emergencies, said John Newman, the University’s emergency preparedness coordinator.

Newman, an officer with the Vanderbilt Police Department, recently began hosting a series of sessions to train “departmental emergency coordinators” from University Central to respond to scenarios ranging from a report of smoke in an office to catastrophic building failure such as the collapse of the towers at the World Trade Center.

“ I’m here to teach you to teach your department how to respond to an emergency situation. That’s what makes a difference,” Newman told one of the first groups to be trained under the recently revised Campus Emergency Preparedness Plan. “If you respond to a state of terror with panic, it’s going to be disastrous.”

Newman recounted an incident from several years ago in which terrorists spilled a lethal chemical in a crowded train station abroad. While 14 people were killed, only two people were killed as a direct result of the chemical, he said.

“ Twelve died as a result of being trampled,” said Newman. “The other two touched it when they were cleaning it up.”

The University’s first Campus Emergency Preparedness Plans came about after a tornado swept through Nashville in 1998, killing a Vanderbilt student, and from preparation for Y2K. Revisions to emergency plans for the Medical Center and University Central were already under way when government officials recently upgraded the nation’s security status to “code orange,” and indicated that terrorists could seek to attack “soft targets” such as hospitals and universities.

“ The Medical Center doesn’t have students living on campus, and the University Central doesn’t have hospital patients,” said Newman. “So, the plans differ. But, they are designed to complement each other.”

The University Central’s Campus Emergency Preparedness Plan is designed to first protect “life, health and safety,” according to its stated goals, followed by maintaining business services and operations, and protecting University facilities. It is these goals that will dictate the specifics of the emergency response from VUPD, Metro Nashville emergency personnel, and specially trained University administrators serving as “functional coordinators” in the event of an emergency.

Departmental emergency coordinators will primarily “organize, train and coordinate the efforts of the individual staff members at the department level,” said Newman.

Over the next few weeks, the DECs will coordinate emergency plans for their respective offices that will re-establish the functionality of the department as soon as possible. The DECs will then train existing and new staff in the department’s emergency preparedness plan, organize evacuation drills and discuss concerns.

“ In light of the recent announcements from the Office of Homeland Security and because of the recent statement by the FBI director that terrorists may consider universities and hospitals soft targets for attacks, I write to assure you that much has been done, and much continues to be done, to ensure the safety and security of our Vanderbilt community,” Chancellor Gordon Gee wrote in an e-mail message sent Feb. 17 to the faculty, staff and students of the University. “Both the central campus and the Medical Center have longstanding emergency preparedness plans, which have proven effective in the past and can be implemented at a moment’s notice.”

Newman said the soft-target designation is not an alarm for the country’s universities and hospitals. The term soft target is a relative to a so-called hard target such as a military base, said Newman.

“ Ninety-nine percent of the country is a soft target,” he said. “Hospitals and universities are soft because they host many events that are open to the public.”

There are many restricted areas of campus that are protected by physical security devices, he said.

Other steps taken to maintain the security of the Vanderbilt community include increasing the patrol coverage by campus police and increasing security at major events. The Vanderbilt Environmental Health and Safety Department and VUPD have worked together to develop response protocols to a number of possible emergencies that might arise on campus. VUPD is in close contact with the Metro Nashville Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in the region, said Newman.

Posted 2/24/03 at 10 a.m.