(Approved by the Executive Director of Health Sciences Administration by authority of Executive Order No. 1, the Executive Vice President by authority of Executive Order No. 5, the Vice President for Student Affairs by authority of Executive Order No. 10, the Vice President for University Relations by authority of Executive Order No. 11, and the Vice President for Computing and Communications by authority of Executive Order No. 63)
In compliance with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations including, but not limited to, Chapter 38.52 RCW, "Emergency Management," Chapter 478–124 WAC, "General Conduct Code for the University of Washington," and WAC 296–24–567, "Employee Emergency Plans and Fire Prevention Plans," the University of Washington is required to safeguard the welfare of students, faculty, staff, and visitors, and to protect the University's essential functions of teaching, research, and public service during and after emergencies.
An emergency is defined as an event, expected or unexpected, involving shortages of time and resources, that places life, property, or the environment in danger and that includes and goes beyond the regular 9–1–1 Police/Fire/Medical response.
This policy applies at all University locations including the Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses, jointly owned facilities, all other University owned property, University leased space, and temporary field operations and field trips that are under the control of University operations and staff.
The UW Bothell campus has special considerations related to co-location with Cascadia Community College and relationships with local jurisdictions and agencies that affect how this policy is implemented. Consult UW Bothell operating procedures and programs for implementation details.
The UW Tacoma campus has special considerations related to local jurisdictions and agencies. Consult UW Tacoma operating procedures and programs for implementation details.
It is University policy that each vice president, vice chancellor, dean, director, department chair, and supervisor is responsible for the health and safety performance in their respective units. Emergency response management responsibilities apply to all units as follows:
All University units are required to have in place a plan that includes procedures for evacuation in an emergency and for response to fires, bomb threats, chemical spills, earthquakes, etc.
The Office of Emergency Management coordinates campus emergency planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Additionally, the Office of Emergency management acts as the primary liaison between the University and other outside government (city, county, state) emergency management agencies. The Office of Emergency Management will centralize all campus-wide emergency/disaster plans, training, and exercises.
The University Police Department is responsible for law enforcement, security, traffic control, access control, and search and rescue. This unit participates in damage assessment.
Facilities Services manages and coordinates the prioritized response and exchange of operational information for all buildings, power and water utilities, roadways, and grounds and supports the Seattle Fire Department during normal operations. This unit participates in damage assessment and search and rescue.
The Environmental Health and Safety Department (EH&S) assesses health and safety hazards, advises on safe response procedures, provides training, and coordinates support to the Seattle Fire Department for hazardous materials incidents during normal operations. The EH&S also maintains and manages a hazardous materials clean-up contract with an outside contractor. In addition, EH&S participates in hazardous materials assessment of UW facilities.
The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs manages all student services. This unit coordinates and provides housing and food services, information to families of students, and counseling services to students.
The Office of News and Information manages all official communication from the University, including internal messages to faculty, staff, students, etc.; media, and external communication.
Communication Technologies, a division of Computing & Communications, provides technical support for campus telephone and emergency communication systems. This unit assesses the operational status of campus communications (wire and cable) infrastructure; arranges emergency repairs; and supports emergency installation of communications and computing services for critical operations and programs.
Computing & Communications maintains central data and computing infrastructure; assesses operational status of campus data and computing services; arranges emergency repairs; and establishes alternate means of computing services.
All University units shall have in place procedures for evacuation in an emergency and for response to fires, bomb threats, chemical spills, earthquakes, etc. Plans should include site-specific evacuation plans (including location of safety equipment, exit pathways and assembly areas); unit-specific plans to account for staff, students, and visitors; as well as appropriate "shelter-in-place" protocols. All major organizational units must establish a Unit Response Center (URC) to be activated during major emergencies for communication and response within the unit. Refer to planning guidelines for Emergency Evacuation/Operations Plan on the Environmental Health and Safety website.
During normal operations, the UW Police Department coordinates and responds to police emergencies at the Seattle campus. UW Police also coordinate response to fire and medical emergencies through the Seattle Fire Department. City of Bothell Police and Fire Departments provide emergency response at the Bothell campus and City of Tacoma Police and Fire Departments provide emergency response at the Tacoma campus.
For emergencies at all UW campuses, dial:
During an emergency affecting the entire campus or region, normal reporting and response services may not be available. Coordinated and integrated campus-wide response to emergencies on the Seattle campus is provided through the UW Emergency Operations Center (EOC) using an Incident Command System (ICS) to manage hour-by-hour decisions during and after a major event. Emergency response operations at the Bothell and Tacoma campuses are managed locally with a communications link to the Seattle campus EOC. The UW Seattle EOC is structured and equipped to provide:
The UW Seattle EOC is supported by and connected to Unit Response Centers (URCs) located in the administrative headquarters of major organizational and operations units. URCs transmit emergency impact reports to the EOC, and in some cases, provide emergency response services and relay emergency information and instruction to their constituents.
For additional information, contact the UW Emergency Management Office:
In addition, the following specific web pages are available:
October 1986; December 15, 2003.