Recently reports of the bird/avian flu have resurfaced. This particular virus has experts worldwide concerned that it could mutate and lead to a pandemic. Planning for a Pandemic event requires strategies unlike any other disaster. This is primarily due to the facts that should a pandemic occur we will 1) see it coming, 2) be unable to stop it, 3) be forced to deal with exposure concerns for over one year and 4) will take several years to recover.
Overview
What Is an Influenza Pandemic?
A pandemic is defined as a global disease outbreak. An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges for which there is little or no immunity in the human population, begins to cause serious illness and then spreads easily person-to-person worldwide.
Historically, the 20th century saw 3 pandemics of influenza:
• 1918 influenza pandemic caused at least 500,000 U.S. deaths and up to 40 million deaths worldwide
• 1957 influenza pandemic caused at least 70,000 U.S. deaths and 1-2 million deaths worldwide
• 1968 influenza pandemic caused about 34,000 U.S. deaths and 700,000 deaths worldwide
Characteristics and challenges of a pandemic
1. Rapid Worldwide Spread
2. Health Care Systems Overloaded
3. Medical Supplies Inadequate
4. Economic and Social Disruption
Communications and Information are Critical Components of Pandemic Response
Education and outreach are critical to preparing for a pandemic. Understanding what a pandemic is, what needs to be done at all levels to prepare for pandemic influenza, and what could happen during a pandemic helps us make informed decisions both as individuals and as a nation. Should a pandemic occur the public must be able to depend on its government to provide scientifically sound public health information quickly, openly and dependably.
What Can Be Done?
While there is nothing a government, school district or business can do to prevent the onset of a pandemic, there is an enormous opportunity to mitigate its effects via planning and training. These preparedness measures should focus on three key stages:
1. Preparedness
2. Response
3. Recovery
1. Preparedness
Perhaps the most important aspect of mitigating a pandemic outbreak lies in the development and implementation of training programs and the creation of plans that outline measures to be taken as part of the response and recovery stages.
A. Training
Programs should be developed to aid leadership in developing instructional programs to familiarize their co-workers and subordinates with the following measures.
1. Social Distancing
2. Hygiene
3. Planning
2. Response
The response to a pandemic event may not necessarily have a clear onset. As human-to-human transmission of the virus becomes more prevalent, response measures will need to be increased as the level of human-to-human transmission increases. Response measures, including training programs and procedures should be developed to the extent possible during the planning stage.
A. Social Distancing
B. Wellness Program Enforcement
C. Hygiene Practices
D. School Closures
3. Recovery
If recovery is defined as a return to normal operations, this stage will not be implemented until the pandemic has ended. However, there are many procedures that can be made during the Response state that may minimize the effects of events such as long-term closings.
Remember, always collaborate with your local public health agencies on pandemic planning issues.
Stay safe!
Brad
This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.
Click here to learn more about the author
In earlier posts, I discussed the critical school safety bomb threats, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and lockdown planning. From a security standpoint, an area that is closely related to these hazards is secondary attacks. For the purpose of this post, integrated school safety refers to the integration of a video surveillance/CCTV, access control, emergency planning and safety training; and a Secondary Attack refers to an attack using either a Secondary Explosive Device or Diversionary Attack or a combination thereof.
Secondary Explosive Device Definition: An explosive device that is placed in an area of evacuation or staging to inflict greater casualties and/or disrupt emergency response.
Diversionary Attack Definition: An attack wherein a force uses a means of deception with the purpose of drawing the target into an area more conducive to attack.
One of the most disturbing aspects of a secondary attack is that it preys on the good intentions of school personnel, who are attempting to protect students from a threat. Nothing is more intuitive than the desire to evacuate students at the sounding of a fire alarm or have them gather outside of a school after receiving a bomb threat. In the event of a fire, or the discovery of a suspicious package, those are not only reasonable actions, but one would be criminally negligent not to enact them. It is the bogus alarm or the baseless bomb threat that should lead school officials to consider the possibility of a secondary attack.
Secondary attacks have been a part of warfare (both conventional and unconventional) for as long as man has engaged in battle. Approximately 25 years ago, secondary attacks directed at emergency response personnel began to occur more frequently in the form of secondary explosive devices. In 1978, an explosion occurred at a state employment office in Colorado causing significant structural damage. Less than 15 minutes later another device exploded at a nearby building. This explosion unintentionally killed the bomber before he could arm a third device that was planted to target emergency response personnel.
It wasn’t until March 24, 1998 in Jonesboro, AR when 13 year old Mitchell Johnson and his cousin 11 year old Andrew Golden brought secondary attacks to our nations schools. As Johnson and Golden waited in the nearby woods, an accomplice pulled the Westside Middle School fire alarm during lunch. As the students were evacuated, they were shot ambush style, killing four students and one teacher and wounding 10 others.
Just over one year later, a secondary attack on a high school was planned using over 70 explosive devices. It is unclear as to whether the explosives were to be the main focus of the attack or supplemental to the use of firearms, but the explosives failed and the two attackers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher before committing suicide.
While these attacks do present distinct challenges for school administrators and emergency responders, there are measures that can be implemented that dramatically reduce risks. These are called Secondary Attach Countermeasures. The area most effected (and improved) by these countermeasures is evacuation planning.
When evacuating a school, the danger should be real, not perceived. A chemistry teacher seeing a fire in the laboratory needs no further evidence to know that the students are in danger. Absent evidence of fire or the discovery of an explosive device, an immediate evacuation is rarely the safest course of action. A fire alarm does not equal fire and a bomb threat does not mean that there is a bomb. These are both issues that need to be taken seriously and acted upon immediately, but the action should rarely be immediate evacuation. Rather, preparation for evacuation should take place as the school’s emergency response team searches for blocked exits, possible explosive devices or other signs of danger.
The benefits of this structured evacuation process is two-fold. First, by sending team members to immediately check exits for availability it allows for the routing of students evacuating to usable exits. In the event of a fire, this measure minimizes congestion and confusion in the areas around the actual fire. Second, this structured approach allows the facility to be used for protection while information is gathered as to the nature of the alarm. Just as teachers should not be instructed to await permission to evacuate when signs of danger exists, they should not automatically evacuate the building solely on the basis of an alarm. A recommended procedure would be as follows:
1. Upon the sounding of a fire alarm, the teacher will immediately scan the hallway or immediate area for evidence of fire.
2. If evidence exist, immediately follow the procedures for evacuation.
3. If no evidence exists, the teacher should prepare the students for evacuation:
A. Obtain Roster and Headcount
B. Allow students to gather personal items within the classroom
C. Line students up inside the room
D. Arrange assistance for students with special needs
E. Leave classroom door open and continue to monitor area for signs of danger.
F. Listen for evacuation or all clear instructions.
G. If after 3 minutes, no information has been announced, proceed with evacuation.
Remember, buildings offer protection in the form of cover and concealment. Cover is protection from gunfire and explosions (and even chemical exposure) and concealment prevents those that would harm you from knowing your exact location. When you evacuate, this protection lost. The primary issue to address when a fire alarm sounds is if there is fire. If there is fire, immediate and orderly evacuation is always the response. If there is not fire, which is the usually the case, the question becomes “Why does someone want us to evacuate?”
Always collaborate with your local responders to address issues such as fire codes, building architecture and response times.
Stay Safe
Brad
This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.
Click here to learn more about the author
A recent story out of Carlsbad, NM brings to light an all too common problem school administrators’ face when conducting a lockdown drill – backlash from parents. (http://www.schoolsafetynews.com/eventdetail.php?ID=392).
Parents complaining about a lockdown drill! 
I wonder how often parents call to complain about a fire drill? My guess is not too often, as a culture we have come to accept fire drills. Consider this:
• The last time a student died as a result of fire in a school in the U.S. was in 1958.
• From 2003 through the 2007 school year, there were 147 school-related violent deaths.
Now this was dramatic gap was not always the case. Prior to 1958, the nation faced horrific school fires and the fire safety professionals, legislators, educators and parents enacted changes; and those changes have undoubtedly saved lives. Over the last 17 or so years, we have been painfully been experiencing a need to change the safety climate in schools. Lockdown drills are a critical component of this change and parents are complaining. Parents and educators, if you need a good reason to start conducting lockdown drills, there are 45 of them at the end of this post.
Always collaborate with your local response agencies on emergency planning issues.
Stay safe!
Brad
This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.
Click here to learn more about the author
1. Feb. 2, 1996, Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class. Moses Lake, Wash
2. Feb. 19, 1997, Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16. Bethel, Alaska
3. Oct. 1, 1997, Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan. Pearl, Miss.
4. Dec. 1, 1997, Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School. West Paducah, Ky.
5. Dec. 15, 1997, Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot. Stamps, Ark.
6. 24-Mar-98, Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods. Jonesboro, Ark.
7. 24-Apr-98, One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged. Edinboro, Pa.
8. 19-May-98, One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis. Fayetteville, Tenn.
9. 21-May-98, Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home. Springfield, Ore.
10. 15-Jun-98, One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway. Richmond, Va.
11. 20-Apr-99, 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation’s deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves. Littleton, Colo.
12. 28-Apr-99, One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates. Taber, Alberta, Canada
13. 20-May-99, Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. Conyers, Ga.
14. Nov. 19, 1999, Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School. Deming, N.M.
15. Dec. 6, 1999, Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School. Fort Gibson, Okla.
16. Feb. 29, 2000, Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun. Mount Morris Township, Mich.
17. 10-Mar-00, Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School. Savannah, Ga.
18. 26-May-00, One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes. Lake Worth, Fla.
19. Sept. 26, 2000, Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School. New Orleans, La.
20. Jan. 17, 2001, One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School. Baltimore, Md.
21. 5-Mar-01, Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School. Santee, Calif.
22. 7-Mar-01, Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased. Williamsport, Pa.
23. 22-Mar-01, One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman. Granite Hills, Calif.
24. 30-Mar-01, One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School. Gary, Ind.
25. Nov. 12, 2001, Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself. Caro, Mich.
26. Jan. 15, 2002, A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. New York, N.Y.
27. 28-Oct-02, Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself. Tucson, Ariz.
28. 14-Apr-03, One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related. New Orleans, La.
29. 24-Apr-03, James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself. Red Lion, Pa.
30. Sept. 24, 2003, Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15. Cold Spring, Minn.
31. 21-Mar-05, Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead. Red Lake, Minn.
32. Nov. 8, 2005, One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators. Jacksboro, Tenn.
33. Aug. 24, 2006 , Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend’s mother. Essex,Vt.
34. Sept. 13, 2006, Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself. Montreal, Canada
35. Sept. 26, 2006, Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself. Bailey, Colo.
36. Sept. 29, 2006, A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang. Cazenovia, Wis.
37. Oct. 3, 2006, 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died. Nickel Mines, Pa.
38. Jan. 3, 2007, Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School. Tacoma, Wash.
39. 16-Apr-07, A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded. Blacksburg, Va.
40. Sept. 21, 2007, A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge. Dover,Del.
41. Oct. 10, 2007, A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims’ injuries were not life-threatening. Cleveland, Ohio
42. Feb. 8, 2008, A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
43. Feb. 11, 2008, A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class. Memphis, Tennessee
44. Feb. 12, 2008, A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead. Oxnard, California
45. Feb. 14, 2008, Gunman kills five students and then himself, and wounds 17 more when he opens fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007. DeKalb, Illinois
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