Emergency Response and Evacuation Procedures

Walsh is dedicated to providing a safe and secure work and learning environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.   It is Walsh policy to be timely, accountable, and honest when communicating with the campus community in times of crisis.

The College has an Emergency Management Communications Plan in place to respond immediately to a crisis at either the Troy location, or at off campus activities at which Walsh has some responsibility, or has significant number of its community involved.  The Emergency Management Communications Plan is a complement to the College’s Emergency Response Plan, and is designed to assist in crisis management situations.

In the case of some unforeseen event, the College’s Executive Incident Response Team (EIRT) will be convened to respond to an incident or crisis and to deploy an internal and external communications strategy.  EIRT is comprised of the President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Chief Academic Officer, Vice President, Chief Development Officer, OIT Executive Director, Director of Facilities, and Legal designate.

EIRT will conduct a situational assessment to determine the severity of the incident or crisis regarding  a crime on campus, campus violence, a Clery Act reportable incident, a threat made against the campus, serious security issue in area or near campus, a partial or full campus loss, IT breach of security, or a incident involving college employees or operations.

Upon assessment, EIRT will execute a chain of action of events pertinent to the incident, execute internal and external communication response protocol, including timely warning, debrief, and document a resolution.

When a significant health or safety emergency, or some other dangerous situation occurs on campus, campus community members are immediately notified once the threat to the College community has been verified.

The College has a variety of ways disseminating emergency information to the community, which includes the following:

  • Local broadcast media
  • RAVE Mobile safety automatic text message alerts system for staff and student notification
  • Walsh Web site
  • Campus email system
  • Campus phone system
  • Electronic message boards on campus

Alternative communication plans will be used when electricity is not available and will be coordinated by EIRT.

Emergency Response and Evacuation Testing Procedures

The College conducts two unannounced building evacuation drills each year.  Drills are conducted to familiarize students, faculty, staff, and visitors with the evacuation procedure, location of exits, and meeting locations.  A test of the College’s administrative and classroom phone message notification system is conducted on a quarterly basis at each campus.

College wide Active Shooter Emergency and Shelter in Place Plan training is conducted in accordance with emergency response testing protocol.

The Walsh facilities department maintains documented records of drills, which detail the date, time, and length of each drill.

Walsh emergency procedures, building evacuation routes, and severe weather shelter locations are posted in each classroom and locations throughout the Troy building.