- Do you currently have a 'campus emergency ' number that goes directly to your Public Safety/Campus Police dispatch/office?
It used to be that calling 911 from a campus phone took you to our own Public Safety and calling from a cell phone would take you to regional dispatch. Now, our PSAP is integrated, so calling 911 from either most likely takes you to our
own Public Safety.
- If 'No" and your protocol is to call 911 for your PSAP, is the response to laboratory emergencies handled differently than say the response to dormitory issues? You don't have to
give a long answer here unless you want to--I will likely be in touch later wanting lots of details...
We have an agreement with the local police such that our public safety officers are the first responders to anything on campus, so even if the call went to the municipal dispatch, they would send it to our dispatchers. However, we have
had cases where a call that went to municipal dispatch related to a lab incident met with immediate response by the fire department and/or ambulance, which might be different if the call had gone to our dispatch.
So, yes, we have different protocols for responding to a lab incident than responding to a dorm incident. However, we have worked closely with the local fire department and ambulance, as well as the local hazmat teams to familiarize them
with our buildings and operations, and we have a branch of the fire department on our campus during regular business hours (volunteer fire fighters who are on duty during their regular work on campus), which has strengthened that relationship.
3) If "Yes" to #1, do you anticipate discontinuing the use of your internal "campus emergency' number to be in compliance with Kari's Law? Are you concerned about 911 response to specific issues, such as laboratory emergencies?
4) If you will CONTINUE to use your internal 'campus emergency' number, what are your reasons for doing so?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Robin M. Izzo, M.S. h =9121
Assistant Vice President
Environmental Health and Safety
Princeton University
262 Alexander Street
Princeton, NJ 08544
609-258-6259 (office)
609-865-7156 (mobile)
Please visit the EHS website at ehs.princeton.edu and the Emergency Management website at
emergency.princeton.edu
she/her/hers
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> on behalf of Margaret Rakas <mrakas**At_Symbol_Here**SMITH.EDU>
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Date: Monday, October 4, 2021 at 2:03 PM
To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Switch of "Campus Emergency #'s"/internal response to 911/city-town response?
Good afternoon,
We have a dedicated 'campus emergency' phone number (x800) that goes directly to Campus Safety Dispatch (our officers) and they have a direct line to fire/police/ambulance/etc. We tell students (and faculty and staff) to call x800 for
lab emergencies like chemical spills/exposure, medical incidents and to report a fire that has gone out. This is especially helpful in laboratory situations, where there is a campus phone in every lab, and our officers are aware of building layout. Not all
labs have good cell phone reception and calling over WIFI can be problematic, but the 'direct dial' number for Campus Safety is also provided to the students during lab safety training and they're encouraged to put it in their cell phone contacts.
Our ITS group (who manages the phone system) is concerned with compliance with the federal regulation known commonly as "Kari's Law", which requires all phones to be able to dial 911 directly. Our campus phones currently connect directly
to the appropriate Public Safety Answer Point (PSAP) which for us is Northampton dispatch and so are in compliance. However, the vendor for the phone system and a consultant are concerned that the continued use of 800 as a substitute for 911 and being directed
to Campus Safety could be interpreted as circumventing the spirit of the law (since if directed to call 800 in an emergency it is essentially functioning as 911).
1) Do you currently have a 'campus emergency ' number that goes directly to your Public Safety/Campus Police dispatch/office?
2) If 'No" and your protocol is to call 911 for your PSAP, is the response to laboratory emergencies handled differently than say the response to dormitory issues? You don't have to give a long answer here unless you want to--I will likely
be in touch later wanting lots of details...
3) If "Yes" to #1, do you anticipate discontinuing the use of your internal "campus emergency' number to be in compliance with Kari's Law? Are you concerned about 911 response to specific issues, such as laboratory emergencies?
4) If you will CONTINUE to use your internal 'campus emergency' number, what are your reasons for doing so?
Please feel free to contact me offline if it's easier--I am happy to compile anonymous results if requested...
--
Margaret A. Rakas, Ph.D.
Lab Safety & Compliance Director
Clark Science Center
413-585-3877 (p)
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at
membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at
membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
