Safety Solutions

We already have too many meetings to go to now! Add to that the many teams that are proposed in our school’s All Hazards Plans; Threat Assessment Teams, Crisis Teams, All Hazards Plan Committee and Flight Team it can make the process overwhelming.

Take time to really look at what these teams do and what their objectives are. Pretty quickly you will realize that the crisis and flight team functions for many schools is to provide counseling and support to staff and students during times of crisis. Does that sound like a function your counseling department could handle? Review the functions of the All Hazards Committee and you might find many similar skill sets used in your regular Safety or facilities Committee meetings.

Simple put… consolidate these functions. Add them to the responsibilities of existing groups of people that are already meeting. Make sure it makes sense for your organization and truly meets the need… then do it.

One final suggestion, when reviewing your plan consider adding the committee or team name of who is handling that function in parentheses next to the official all hazards plan title. For example “Contact the school crisis team (counseling department) to provide emotional support to staff and students”

Hope this simple suggestion helps simplify your emergency preparedness and maybe even eliminates a meeting or two. If you want to discuss other ways to make All Hazards Planning more practical give us a call. This is John Baker for safetysolutions4schools.com