Introduction

This guide walks instructors through steps to take in the event of an emergency in or near your classroom. While not an exhaustive list, you will learn about possible types of emergencies you should prepare yourself for and some approaches to addressing emergencies that could potentially occur affecting you and your students in a classroom context.

Definitions of an Emergency

An emergency is a situation or event that requires immediate action and takes priority over continuing with classroom instruction. “Emergency” implies an immediate risk of harm to one or more people in the environment. 

Emergencies that can happen in a classroom include but are not limited to:

• Earthquake
• Fire
• Bomb Threat
• Active Shooter
• Medical Emergency
• Behavioral Emergency
• Building and/or Classroom Access Disruption

Preparing for an Emergency

Familiarize yourself with UCR’s  emergency procedures and available emergency preparedness training. Verify that your information is correct in UCR’s Emergency Alert System to receive notifications about emergencies affecting our campus community.

At the start of each quarter, identify the following: classroom exits; fire/earthquake evacuation paths (including stairway locations) and assembly points; building furniture or other large items that could be used for barricades; places to hide; and light switches in the classroom.

Plan for how you would support students with disabilities in an emergency. Consult the  Student Disability and Resource Center for guidance and review the following considerations:

Download

UCR's mobile app (iOS, Android) for safety resources and emergency information: UCR SAFE App

Inform

Ensure that the person you want to help is aware of what’s happening—depending on the situation, they may not know about the emergency.  

Ask

Ask and receive consent before providing assistance. You can ask orally or by writing a note. Clarify the kind of help they would like.

Additional Considerations

Depending on the situation and the disability, you may be called upon to do one or more of the following to assist with evacuation:

1. Give verbal directions including distance and avoiding obstacles.
2. Ensure that service animals are not separated from their humans.
3. Physically help a person move (ideally with assistance from another individual).
4. Orient the person you are aiding upon arrival at the designated assembly point.

During emergencies when an elevator is not available or safe for use, escort individuals with impaired mobility to a refuge such as an enclosed stairwell landing that leads to an exterior exit at the ground level. Someone should remain with the individual while another person notifies arriving emergency personnel of the location of the person who needs assistance.

Classroom Management in an Emergency

When responding to an emergency situation as an instructor, you are both in a leadership role and reacting to the crisis in front of you. Consider the particular needs of others around you and only help when you can do so without significant risk to yourself. You can’t help others when you become part of the emergency.

Breathe and Maintain Composure

Take slow, deep breaths. When you speak, try to do so in a calm, confident voice.

Assess the Situation

Evaluate the nature and severity of the emergency, and think through the actions you will take. Visual, sound, and environmental cues are often the first indicators that something may be amiss. Consider the following:

• Visual Cues: smoke, suspicious or distraught people and/or frantic animals.
• Sound Cues: shouts, screams, sirens, and alarms.
• Environmental Cues: events/assemblies, changes in access to building entrances or exits, property damage, fire pulls/extinguishers and other safety equipment in use.

Assign Roles and Responsibilities

If needed, students, staff, and other instructors can support you during an emergency. They can call 911, move furniture, and help provide aid within the scope of their comfort and training.

Call for Help

For emergencies, dial 911 from any campus phone or cell phone, and follow this guidance from UCPD about communicating with public safety dispatchers and first responders.

Types of Emergencies

Specific guidance is provided below for situations or events that may occur in classrooms and require immediate action. Addressing these types of emergencies should take priority over continuing with classroom instruction.

Medical Incident

• Cardiac Arrest

To assist an individual experiencing cardiac arrest: check, compress, and call 911. Check for responsiveness and breathing. If no pulse is detected and the individual is not breathing, compress the chest (perform compression-only CPR) without interruption until help arrives. Call 911 (or ask someone else to do so). 

• Signs and Types of Respiratory Distress

1. Anxiety/Panic - The individual may hyperventilate, breathing rapidly or deeply.
2. Anaphylaxis - An allergic reaction that may include skin reactions, nausea, dizziness, and fainting.
3. Known Breathing Conditions - Several breathing conditions such as asthma can cause respiratory distress.

To assist an individual experiencing respiratory distress, employ calming verbal measures, administer Epinephrine (EpiPen) if available and/or assist with the use of an inhaler or medication. Call 911 if needed.

• Other Medical Emergencies 

1. Seizure: Move hard objects away from the person and assist to the ground. Do not attempt to restrain, place anything in the mouth, or stop the seizure. Call 911.
2. Fainting/loss of consciousness: Place on back and gently tilt chin upwards to ensure the airway is open. Call 911.
3. Traumatic injuries: Do not move the victim. Call 911.
4. Traumatic bleeding: Apply firm direct pressure to minor bleeding. Use tourniquets on heavy arm/leg bleeding. Call 911.
5. Possible opiate overdose: Check for breathing, gently tilt chin upwards to ensure the airway is open. Begin compression-only CPR if the individual has no pulse. Call 911 and continue CPR without interruption until help arrives. 

Earthquake

Duck, cover, and hold on!
Get low, preferably under a solid object. Stay away from windows and items that could fall or topple. Protect your head and neck with your arms. After the earthquake is over, move to an outdoor open space away from buildings, power lines, and large trees. Assist anyone who needs help if it is safe to do so.

Fire

If you see smoke/flames OR if a fire alarm sounds, exit the classroom through the nearest unobstructed exit. Close, but do not lock, the doors behind you. If possible, be the last one out in order to account for the exit of all your students. Convene at the designated assembly point outside the building.

If you or another person is on fire: stop, drop, and roll to extinguish flames.
 

Building and/or Classroom Access Disruptions

Access to buildings and/or classrooms on campus may be blocked during an emergency, such as a fire or earthquake. At other times, the blocking of access to buildings, floors, or rooms may represent a violation of UCLA’s Time, Place, and Manner policies that initiates campus emergency response protocols.

If you cannot access your classroom prior to class, inform your department chair or director and follow their guidance about whether to change your classroom location, cancel class, pivot to remote instruction, or make other arrangements. Notably, individual instructors should not be making preemptive decisions about course modality based on their perception of the possibility of disruption. Campus leadership will make and communicate decisions about course modality based on changes to campus operating status (see UCR’s Office of Emergency Management – Campus Status).

In the event of an access disruption to your building or classroom while your class is underway, follow the guidance of campus administration and/or first responders regarding whether to shelter in place or evacuate the building. If instructed to shelter in place, direct students to remain in the classroom until an all-clear order is issued. If instructed to evacuate, proceed toward the nearest exit. Do not use elevators for evacuation because they may be damaged and unreliable. After exiting the building go directly to the designated emergency assembly point. If that area is not accessible, determine the safest place away from imminent danger. Do not return to your building or classroom until notified by emergency personnel or an official UCR channel (such as the Emergency Alert System). See above section on Preparing for an Emergency for guidance on supporting students with disabilities or other access and functional needs that limit the use of the stairs in multi-story buildings. When it is safe to do so, consult your department chair or director for guidance on an academic continuity plan.

UCR channel (such as Emergency Alert System). See above section on Preparing for an Emergency for guidance on supporting students with disabilities or other access and functional needs that limit the use of the stairs in multi-story buildings. When it is safe to do so, submit a request to consult the Office of Emergency Management on an individualized Emergency Evacuation Plan (IEEP) to assist in the planning for evacuating during a building emergency.

Bomb Threat

All bomb threats should be treated seriously. Always assume a bomb threat is real. This type of threat may require you to evacuate a building, the main campus, or an offsite location. It can also require you to shelter in place. See Bomb Threat - Office of Emergency Management for general protocols, including steps for reporting a suspicious package or object.

If you are teaching a class and receive reports from an official UCR channel (such as the Emergency Alert System) of a bomb threat in the area, calmly stop class and inform your students of the situation. Prepare your class for a possible evacuation. Unless told to evacuate by emergency personnel or university officials, and if no other threats are present, instruct your class to remain in the room. Follow the instructions sent by law enforcement or other responding emergency personnel. You may be instructed by emergency responders to evacuate the building or shelter in place. Remind students to follow the instructions of emergency responders.

Active Shooter

Active shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve quickly. Recommended responses vary depending on your proximity to the situation. See Active Shooter - Office of Emergency Management for official guidance, and review the condensed outline of steps below. 

If the shooter is outside your building and you are told to lockdown:

• If you cannot evacuate, turn off all the lights, close the blinds, and close and lock all windows and doors. If you cannot lock the door, try to barricade the door with heavy furniture, and use a belt to help keep it closed (see RAIN video).
• Keep quiet and out of sight; seek the safest spot in the room.
• Do not respond to anyone who knocks on the door.

If the shooter is inside your building:

• If it is possible to escape the area safely and avoid danger, do so by the nearest exit or window.

If the shooter enters your office or classroom:

• Call 911 and talk with a police dispatcher. If you cannot speak, leave the phone line open so the police can hear what is going on. 
• Counter shooter as he enters (throw objects, yell, swarm to take down if necessary) Attempting to overcome the suspect with force is a last resort that should only be considered in the most extreme circumstances.

Classroom Behavioral Disruptions: Defuse, Dismiss, Dial 911

Behavioral disruptions in the classroom may be caused by UCR community members affiliated with your course, community members unaffiliated with your course, or members of the public. Not all behavioral disruptions constitute an emergency. Behavioral disruptions that substantially hinder the teaching and learning environment, which may warrant immediate classroom intervention, include physical aggression toward, attacks, or threats of violence made to other students or instructors/TAs. 

Behavior of this sort differs from free and open expression, discussion, and debate, which are important aspects of the educational environment and should be actively protected and encouraged — even where the positions advocated are controversial, unpopular, or personally offensive. See UCR’s General Guidance for Classroom Disruptions for criteria to be used to determine whether an activity, program, or event unreasonably disrupts the classroom. Also review UCR’s Time, Place, and Manner policies for guidance on approved use of university property.

• Defuse the situation verbally, if possible
• Addressing affiliated individuals.
  If the disruptive individual(s) is(are) affiliated with your class, de-escalate the situation verbally if possible. Be calm and polite, but firm. Use the person’s name (if known) often, and listen for clues regarding the motivation of their behavior. Consider adapting scripts and conversation guidance included in Teaching Strategies to Support Academic Continuity Through Difficult Times. Empathize and acknowledge their feelings. Be attentive and convey you are paying attention. Invite the disruptive person to separate from others, but stay in the public eye and get help from others. Keep the person at least two arm’s-lengths away so they cannot reach you. 
• Addressing unaffiliated individuals.
  If the disruptive individual(s) is(are) not affiliated with your course, let them know UCLA classes are not open to the public or individuals not enrolled in the course and ask the individual to leave if you feel safe doing so. Ask students to not engage with the disruptors. If individuals refuse to leave and the disruption continues, see next step: Dismiss.
• Dismiss the remainder of the class session, if necessary.
  If verbal strategies to defuse the situation are not effective and if the individual(s) refuse(s) to leave the classroom and the disruption continues, dismiss your class and leave the area. If there are multiple exits, direct students away from the one used by the disruptive individual(s). Call 911 at any time if you feel physically threatened or are concerned for the safety of those around you. Report incidents involving students to UCLA’s Consultation and Response team following the guidance on when to refer a student.
• Dial 911, if de-escalation strategies do not work
  If at any time you feel physically threatened or are concerned for the safety of those around you, dismiss your class and call 911 immediately.
  • Do NOT attempt to touch, crowd, confront, or physically remove the person. 
  • Do NOT say “calm down.”
  • Do NOT use a loud, condescending, or moralistic tone. 
  • Do NOT take the person, or allow yourself to be taken, to a private area. 
  • Do NOT let the disruptive person(s) put you into a corner or other position from which you cannot escape.

Additional recommended action can be found in General Guidance for Classroom Disruptions.

Instructional Continuity

Every UC Riverside instructor should develop a preparedness plan to ensure the continuity of instruction in case of disruptions and/or unexpected conditions that affect the mode and/or delivery of teaching.  Please consult the Instructional Continuity Guidelines for pedagogical strategies and approaches to maintain delivery of effective instruction.

Key Campus Emergency Contacts & Resources

Emergency Assistance: Dial 911 from any campus phone or cell phone.

UC Police Department: (951) 827-5222

UCR Office of Emergency Management

• Sign up or update Emergency Alert System 
• Explore emergency preparedness training

Case Management Services

• When to Refer a Student

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS): (951) UCR-Talk

UCR Time, Place, and Manner Policies - guidance on use of university property

The structure, supporting explanations, and the organization of this page has been adapted from UC Santa Cruz’s and UCLA’s Emergency Preparedness guidelines.