For K-12 schools, college campuses and hospitals, continuously improving and practicing emergency plans is essential for keeping employees, students, patients and visitors safe. These plans should account for severe weather incidents, such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires and more — especially now that scientists predict we will experience more extreme weather in the coming years due to climate change.
Fortunately, unlike other threats such as active shooters, we typically know when we are due for bad weather. This gives protection professionals some time to best safeguard their campuses and thoroughly activate severe weather emergency plans.
Good building design, emergency notification systems and proper policies will help you mitigate your campus’ inclement and extreme weather risks. If possible, your campus’ likely exposure to various types of weather, which should be determined by a vulnerability assessment, should dictate a building’s design and location.
During an extreme weather event, video surveillance can also be used to monitor the situation as it unfolds in real-time. After an extreme weather event has occurred, video surveillance footage obtained during the emergency can also be effective in evaluating how the event played out, how the campus withstood the impact, and what changes can be made to even better protect your campus from a similar incident in the future.
See what these campuses’ video surveillance systems caught on camera during weather emergencies
In Campus Safety’s 2020 Video Surveillance Survey, 84% of respondents said they frequently (55%) or sometimes (29%) use their security cameras to help them monitor the campus during situations where safety or security issues could arise, such as weather emergencies, athletic events, concerts, protests and more. With healthcare respondents, that percentage increases to 97% (77% frequently and 20% sometimes).
Based on these numbers, it is safe to say that video surveillance plays an extremely important role in nearly all types of emergency events.
Additionally, here are some resources to help your campus better prepare for the threat of severe weather:
- 15 Items Your Hurricane Emergency Kit Should Include
- Is Your Campus Prepared for Extreme Weather?
- Learning From A School District’s Emergency Responses to Severe Weather
- How USC Integrates the Great ShakeOut Into Its Emergency Management Plan
- Hurricane Harvey Reveals The Value of Social Media and 5 Other Lessons
- Severe Weather Preparedness: Educating Students, Staff and Faculty on Proper Responses
- HHS Releases 2019-2022 National Health Security Strategy
