A building evacuation alarm may sound, or you may be directed by police personnel to evacuate your work area in response to a fire, bomb threat, or other emergency.

Read the fictional account, below, and consider the appropriate steps.

It’s 2:40 p.m. on an unseasonably hot Thursday, near the end of the spring semester. You are in a classroom, wrapping up a lecture. The students are obviously eager for class to end.

The building alarm sounds.

After an initial hesitation, some of the students begin to move to the door while others take their time, joking among themselves that this is probably just a false alarm. They seem uncertain of what to do.

One of the students is hearing impaired. Even though the door to the classroom is open, she may not see the strobe light that is part of the alarm.

Are you prepared to do what’s necessary?

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Last modified April 30, 2007 by the University Police Department