Preparedness planner writing continuity plan

BY LINDA EVANS
Editor, RichmondNow

If an emergency or natural disaster shut down campus, how long would it take to get the University back up and running?

That’s a question that Bill Harding has been contemplating since he joined the staff seven months ago. Harding is the University’s emergency preparedness planner, and his top assignment is to write a continuity of operations plan for the campus.

Whether the campus experiences a natural disaster or other crisis, Harding is developing a plan that will incorporate preventive measures, actions to take during the disaster, and recovery processes.

“We are exceeding the state’s standards for public universities,” Harding said, referring to the governor’s mandate for public colleges to put continuity plans in place. Few other private colleges are doing what Richmond is doing, he said.

Harding has handled his share of crises. He worked for 23 years for Chesterfield County’s fire department, some of that time as battalion chief.

While his final plan won’t be completed until January, the University is phasing in recommendations along the way. For instance, the University is working with outside jurisdictions, such as the city of Richmond, to provide more detailed information about buildings so that response time during a fire or other emergency will be quicker and more efficient.

A major addition to the University’s emergency response capability will be a new audible, mass notification alarm system. Replacing the current alarm that sounds a tone during weather emergencies, the new system will have the capability to make voice announcements about any type of emergency that can be heard throughout the campus and into nearby neighborhoods, said Harding. The messages also will be broadcast inside Tyler Haynes Commons, Boatwright Memorial Library, the Heilman Center and the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness.

Harding also is working with University Police on specific emergency plans for campus buildings. Building coordinators will have designated responsibilities during an emergency and will provide training for others in the building, he said.

Some obvious changes beside the new alarm that employees will notice this year include an increased number of SpiderByte messages about emergency preparedness, training in how to respond to an emergency and more information on the University’s alert.richmond.edu Web site.

Harding said that the situation in May when a man was seen on campus with a possible gun offered the University lessons that will be incorporated into the plan.