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UT purchases new safety alert system |
| By
Chelsea-Lynn Carey |
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Aug 27, 2007 |
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The Safety and Health Department has purchased a safety alert system called “Red Alert” to help ensure the security of students and employees on Main, Scott Park and Health Science campuses.
According to Gary Jankowski, associate vice president of safety and health, an ad hoc task force was created shortly after the merger to identify and prioritize the most pressing safety issues facing UT campuses.
A major issue on Main Campus was the lack of a campus-wide public announcement system or mass communication system.
“It was important to do this because in the event of a tornado warning for the area or a violent episode on campus somewhere or in the case of a child who has been abducted from the day-care center, for example, there was no effective way to get this critical information out to the campus community quickly and in widespread fashion,” Jankowski said.
He added that this task force was already looking into such a system prior to the Virginia Tech tragedy.
“Red Alert” will have many capabilities, including delivery of mass alerts to faculty, staff, students or pre-defined groups via pagers, e-mail, text messages and telephone. The system has real-time tracking of the contact process, among other specs, according to Teri Lee, associate vice president of purchasing services.
The UT Police dispatcher will be responsible for sending alerts, according to Jankowski.
Jankowski said that if “Red Alert” does not reach a person at his or her primary choice of contact, it will keep trying or move on to a second point of contact that an individual has listed.
“It [‘Red Alert’] will affect every person on campus who is enrolled in the ‘Red Alert’ notification process by providing each person the latest, most time-sensitive information about life-threatening or potentially life-threatening events that could impact them,” Jankowski said.
This purchase was decided upon by an ad hoc task force under the Safety and Health Department and the UT Safety and Health Committee. The task force included representatives from the UT Police, Facilities Maintenance and its life safety division, Residence Life, Information Technology, Safety and Health, and the administration.
The process of purchasing “Red Alert” took about six months, according to Jankowski, and costs $24,000 annually, according to Lee.
“The ad hoc mass communications task force chose ‘Red Alert’ for the UT community in order to improve and strengthen the protections in place for all students, faculty and staff, and to ensure that all persons on campus receive the critical information they need in order to make wise, informed decisions about their personal safety while on campus,” Jankowski said. “‘Red Alert’ is a robust, dynamic notification system that achieves that goal.”
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