10 School Safety Oversights That Can Be Easily Avoided

Unintentional dangers are more common than you'd think. the school safety mistakes in these real site assessment photos?
Published: March 31, 2022

The word “oversight” is defined as an unintentional failure to notice or do something. When it comes to mistakes in school safety, most of the errors made fall under the category of oversight.

The vast majority of people who get into the “business” of campus safety and security do so with the best intentions and the goal of protecting students, staff, visitors and patients. Mistakes do happen, but there is very little room for error when experiencing an emergency.

One way to fix potentially life-threatening mistakes is by conducting a site assessment. Many school districts and hospitals hire security consultants to do walkthroughs of their campuses to look for security risks.

These site assessments often consist of two parts: the physical assessment of each school to identify security measures and building systems unique to each building, and an assessment of each school’s operations and security policies.

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Gary Sigrist, CEO and president of Safeguard Risk Solutions and a retired school district safety director, conducts dozens of site assessments each year. During his assessments, he closely studies and critiques a wide range of safety issues, including visitor protocols, key control, after-hours emergency procedures, emergency response plans, staff training, evacuation and lockdown procedures, fencing, building ventilation, and exterior lighting.

Gary has generously provided us with site assessment photos to be used as learning tools for our Campus Safety readers. the mistakes in the slideshow photos?

Here are links to our most recent installments if you want more practice:

It is important to note that these articles aren’t meant to shame campuses for making mistakes. Any of the photos we feature are from schools that took the initiative to hire a professional to conduct a site assessment, and that alone says a lot about their dedication to campus safety and security.

Do you have any examples you’re willing to share from your own site assessments? We would keep the school(s) anonymous. Send me an email at [email protected].

Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series