October 16, 2018
Great UW ShakeOut 2018 is coming!
WHY? With all the recent catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires impacting the US, let’s talk about the next Great UW ShakeOut. Our biggest natural hazard threat here in the Pacific Northwest is an earthquake. While Washington does not experience earthquakes as frequently as, say, California, when we are hit with the next 7, 8, or…
December 22, 2015
Holiday Hours for UWEM Office
To allow UWEM staff to enjoy the Christmas and New Years holidays with their families, UWEM will observe limited on-campus staff coverage on the following dates this year: December 24 and December 31. In case of a campus-wide emergency or incident, please call our 24/7 UWEM Duty Officer phone at 206-765-7192. HAPPY HOLIDAYS !
March 20, 2020
New UW Continuity Checklist Developed Labs & Research Facilities
This is a challenging time for many as we adjust to working under the constraints of the COVID-19 situation and plan for impacts outside of our control, some of which may impact research continuity. In cooperation with the University’s Environmental Health and Safety Department, and input from the Office of Research, we collectively can provide…
March 9, 2020
FAQs for UW EOC Responders to the COVID-19 Outbreak
What Hours will the EOC be open for in-Person Activity? TBD, but initially we plan on only operating during normal business hours 9 am – 5 pm, M-F. I cannot work everyday in the EOC. How do I ensure coverage? The EOC operates under the “Rule of 3” principle, meaning that we recommend that every…
March 6, 2020
January 21, 2020 – Spring 2020: UW’s response to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
When an unknown viral outbreak started in Wuhan, China in mid-December 2019, most Seattle’ites never heard of the (new) novel coronavirus or COVID-19 communicable disease. Within a month, the virus had spread throughout the world and became a pandemic. The first COVID-19 case in the US was found in Everett. By early March, hundreds of…
March 3, 2020
CANCELLED: Introduction to BARC Planning Course 13 March 2020
THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED: Come one, Come all!! UW Emergency Management has developed a training course to assist BARC planning efforts across the university. This Introduction to BARC Planning course will provide plan managers with training and resources to assist them in preparing their plans by providing concepts of continuity planning, as well as,…
February 20, 2020
How to join the ERC meeting using Zoom: Instructions
The following instructions will show you how to remotely connect (view/hear) to the proceedings of the UW’s Emergency Readiness Committee, or ERC, via your computer, tablet or even smartphone. ERC meetings usually start at 1:30 pm PDT/PST, but the line will be open starting 30-minutes prior at approximately 1:00 pm. These instructions are valid for…
February 7, 2020
Build Your Plan in a Year
The Build Your Plan in a Year pilot provides one small set of tasks each month for a year, with the goal of enabling a department to build a continuity of operations plan for business, academic and research programs. For more information about the conception and aims of this pilot, please view the blog post,…
February 5, 2020
BARC website improvements support new Provost’s Safety Initiative
At their regular meeting on February 5, 2020, the UW’s Board of Deans & Chancellors (BoDC) formally reviewed and endorsed a sweeping set of safety initiatives identified by Provost Mark Richards in a recent written directive. In his charge to the colleges and academic departments, the Provost identified seventeen (17) separate tasks and activities that…
January 20, 2020
So… How Accurate were the January 2020 Snowstorm Forecasts?
If you were in Western Washington anytime from January 10-18, 2020 and watched local news, browsed social media or stepped foot in a local grocery, hardware or home improvement store, you likely were exposed to some of the Seattle-area residents’ winter weather “hysteria”. Some schools closed entirely for days, some started late (like the UW),…
January 8, 2020
When the UW “closes” due to Snow, who makes that decision and how do we find out?!
Well before the first snowflakes begin to fall, UWEM starts fielding this question from students, faculty, staff, parents, media and the general public. After we remind everyone that the UW NEVER CLOSES (technically, we either “suspend operations”, announce a “delayed start/opening,” or allow for an “early release”…) , we note that the UW follows a…
December 11, 2019
Describe Seattle’s 2019 Weather in 2 words? NOT NORMAL
If you were a newcomer to Seattle in 2019 and wondering if the past year was typical for Seattle… the answer would be NO. In fact, according to experts from the National Weather Service, very little of what we experienced this past year was what some “old-timers” would recognize as normal. Click HERE to see…