- It is a mandatory public safety regulation that public buildings have posted emergency, specifically fire, exit strategies throughout a campus or facility. In a school, it is not only necessary to have a fire exit strategy posted but safe exit procedures must be practiced with the students, which requires all faculty and staff to be familiar with procedures in advance. A teacher or staff member should be trained on how to calmly line students up at the door immediately upon hearing the sound of the fire alarm. The adult must then escort the students out of the building using the designated fire emergency point of exit and take them to a distance away from the building specified by the local fire department. This distance is typically 100 feet away from the building and further away if there are large glass windows. The students should become familiar enough with the procedure that, if they are in between classes, they know to go to the exit nearest their next teacher.
- In the event of a tornado or a tornado warning, students will need to "duck and cover" and teachers will have to know how to guide them and keep them calm. In a two-story building, all students will need to be led to the first floor. The students will need to be brought to an area with as few windows or wide spaces as possible and this particular area will vary greatly by building design. In a school with hallways that do not have windows, the students should be taken to the hallways and told to sit on the ground and cover their heads. If there is a room in the building with no windows, students should be taken there but principals should always have notification from a fire marshal concerning where to take students. All faculty and staff will need to know where this designated area is and how to instruct students to take cover.
- An earthquake drill requires both a duck-and-cover and an exit strategy that faculty and staff must be familiar with in case of emergency. Staff should be trained in all procedures and able to relay the instructions to the students in advance during a drill. Earthquake precautionary measures require that students take shelter under a desk or a doorjamb until all shaking has stopped. After the shaking has stopped, students should evacuate the building in the same manner as for a fire drill. This exit is necessary as the integrity of the school structure may have been compromised during a quake and risk collapse.
- Teachers and staff should be trained in first aid as part of professional development safety training to ensure a quick response for a student or fellow staff member in an emergency medical situation. In basic first-aid training, staff members should learn about proper utilization of a first-aid kit, especially important in instances such as uncontrolled bleeding, as well as learn how to stabilize a victim in case of an accident, such as a broken bone. First-aid training could also be broadened to teach faculty how to aid a victim who is choking or nonresponsive, although these victims may require the more advanced training of CPR.
- Training staff and faculty in proper CPR techniques will ensure that any victim in a school who is nonresponsive can be properly cared for until an emergency response team arrives. These classes are typically led employees of the Red Cross and teach class participants how to keep blood and oxygen flowing throughout a victim's body and how to administer shocks from an automatic external defibrillator. These machines, known as AEDs, are required to be placed in public buildings and can ensure that a victim's heart beat is maintained if necessary.
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