UT Austin’s Mass Notification Methods
1-800 Phone Line:
The question, “How do we handle phone calls from parents during an emergency?” was discussed before the September 2010, emergency. We established a 1-800 phone line that would be activated during a crisis. We knew parents would call the university to find out what is going on during an emergency.
The question has always been who answers the calls. At UT Austin, we have designated the ITS help line personnel to be the responders. We developed a recording on the morning of September 28, 2010. Between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. we received nearly 1,500 calls. All but 150 dropped off the line and followed the instructions of the recording. Our operators only talked to 150 callers. This save a tremendous amount of time and personnel.
Plan ahead and help your campus.
Web Site Postings:
This means of communication is critical to provide detailed information. There has to be consistent updates to these pages and links from the main page to other pages that provide additional information. For example, from the emergency preparedness page at www.utexas.edu/emergency we have links to the registrar, housing and food services and other offices that will provide detailed information to members of the community.
Cable TVs/Flat Screens:
At UT Austin, we have two campus TV cables. We have a system that enables the office of emergency preparedness to place emergency announcements on these cable systems.
During the September 28 eve
nt, we did not scroll the announcement across the bottom of the page, and that proved to be a problem. When we posted the emergency announcement, we blocked out access to news and public media information. We are fixing this so that an emergency announcement will scroll at the bottom of the picture.
Computer “Pop Ups”:
We are using a system that permits our emergency offices to send out messages that “pop up” on selected computers. This is a good system to get information to key people. It is not necessary that every computer on campus has this feature. Select key computers that will have someone there who can forward the information.
Bob Harkins is associate vice president of campus safety and security at UT Austin. He can be reached at bharkins@austin.utexas.edu.
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