A new Crisis Management Plan has been designed and passed by TheUniversity of Memphis to ensure the safety of students and facultyduring potential emergencies.
"This new plan was long overdue, and it will be continuallyevolving so that it stays current," said Bruce Harber, director ofU of M Police Services. "We want to make sure we are prepared totake care of any problem that might arise."
The plan consists of a flexible framework for crisis regulationrather than the step-by-step approach of the past.
"The world isn't as predictable as it used to be. So our newplan is extremely flexible," said Teresa Hartnett, director ofPlanning and Research of the Division of Business and Finance. "Weare committed to testing the plan, so it will be constantlyupdated."
The up-to-date crisis plan became effective Sept. 22, due inlarge part to the new administration at The University and theevents of 9/11, said U of M administrators.
The flexibility of the new plan will allow for an organizedformat fit to respond to different levels of emergencies ranging inseverity, while also permitting the Crisis Management Team torespond to the varying degrees of an incident as it escalates.
In other words, the team in charge during a crisis will dependupon what sort of emergency has occurred. Employees will answer toother employees they do not typically have a reporting relationshipwith as a way of pulling from the resources available at The U of Mto overcome conflicts.
"If there's a fire emergency, the firefighters will be incharge," Harber said. "If you have something in place (an organizedbut flexible plan) to pull the right people together, after thatthings tend to stabilize."
An integration of three necessary components must be present topull the right people together and stabilize a situation.
"We have adopted an approach to crisis management thatintegrates leadership, operations and communication," Hartnettsaid. "This is rather ground-breaking."
The approach was designed to integrate the response and recoveryplans and tools already in place, strengthen the leadershipcomponent and ensure adequate communication across The U of M,Hartnett said.
Blending these key factors will strengthen the level of overallability and compliance when dealing with dangerous conditions,Harber said.
"The fact is, you can never plan for everything," he said. "Butif everyone knows what's expected of them and what to expect of uswe should be alright."
Part of knowing what is expected is being aware of whom tocontact in the event of an emergency, which is why every individualon campus is an important element to the crisis plan.
"It makes me feel safe," said Carrie Larson, a marketing andmanagement major at The U of M, "just knowing that the faculty hereis so concerned with my protection."
