Emergency Response
The Emergency Response Plan is intended to provide a system for handling emergencies which are of sufficient magnitude to cause a significant disruption of the functioning of all of the activities on the UTHSC campus and within its community.
Every emergency situation requires a specific response in terms of how the Police must respond. Our response is determined by the need of our recourses and whether the incident is criminal in nature.
The type of emergency will require Campus Police to address each one on an individual basis; however we have guidelines which have been set in place to ensure containment of the incident.
Currently, the UTHSC Campus Police Department experiences more activities involving emergencies which are defined as “Minor Emergencies”, those which have limited impact on the universities overall functioning. Most of these emergencies are not criminal in nature and must be addressed through a coordinated effort by the colleges to bring about a successful plan of action during an emergency.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has detailed plans in place to deal with emergencies and crisis that may occur on campus.
Emergency Notifications
In the event that the campus community must be notified of an emergency or crises on campus, the following mechanisms could be used:
- Mobile devices (voice, text, Rave Guardian app)
- Voice calls to Campus desk phones and mobile phones
- UTHSC Email
- UTHSC Website
- Social Media
- Desktop & Laptop Computers
- TV and Hypersign digital displays across campus
Safety Precautions
If you are notified of or involved in an emergency or crisis, stay calm, assess the situation, and be prepared to take safety precautions based on your personal situation.
- Stay away from the area of the emergency or crisis.
- Find a safe place and stay there until you are notified that the emergency is over.
- If you are directly affected by the emergency, (call 911 if you are not on Campus) or UTHSC Police at 901.448.4444 as soon as it is safe to do so. Provide as much information as you can and stay on the phone until told to hang up.
- Alert others if you can without endangering yourself.
- Evacuate the area by a safe route if possible.
- If the emergency is an active threat and you are unable to evacuate the area, attempt to seek an area of safe refuge.
- If you must seek refuge, secure doors and windows as quickly as possible and barricade as many items between you and the threat.
- Do not attempt to make contact with the individual(s) responsible for the threat unless no other option is available.
- Once in a secure location, do not open the door for anyone but the police.