Shelter-In-Place Guidelines
Sheltering in Place is a protective action taken inside a building to protect the building occupants from external hazards, minimize the chance of injury and/or provide the time necessary to allow for a safe evacuation. Circumstances that may warrant a shelter-in-place activity could include:
- Severe weather
- Biological incident
- Active Shooter
- Civil unrest
- Radiological incident
- Accidental chemical exposure
Practice general safety precautions at all times. If you observe any suspicious activity on campus, immediately contact University Police at 9-1-1 or (657) 278-2515.
View the Shelter-In-Place Training presentation.
The notice to Shelter-In-Place will be issued by emergency personnel from University Police or the Emergency Operations Center and can be received in many ways. Building emergency personnel may receive notice to Shelter-In-Place or notice may be sent using our campus wide Safety Alert.
In the event of an active shooter,
- If you can leave the area safely, do so
- Notify anyone you encounter as you are leaving that they must exit immediately as well
- Do not signal the building occupants by activating a fire alarm
- Take shelter in another university building if possible
- Contact University Police to advise them of what is happening
If you cannot leave the area,
- Close and lock the door
- Move furniture to barricade the door if possible
- Turn off the lights. Block any windows that provide a view of the room to the outside
- Stay away from the windows and doors if at all possible
- Seek protective cover of some kind under or behind furniture
- Take a moment to switch all cell phones in the room to vibrate mode so that they will not alert anyone to your presence
- Do not answer the door under any circumstance
- Do not leave the room until directed to do so by emergency personnel
- Work to remain calm and develop a plan to escape should it become necessary
- If police enter the room, follow their instructions
For severe weather and civil unrest that pose a physical threat,
- Stay inside and move away from windows to the inner corridors
- Be sure to close all doors connecting exterior offices to the corridor
- For extreme weather, relocate to lower levels in the building
For external chemical, biological or radiological incident,
- Stay inside and move to an inner corridor or office
- Close windows and turn off air conditioners and fans
- Move to higher levels of the building if possible to reduce the transfer of contaminated air from outsideinside
- Move higher in the building since many chemical agents are heavier than air and tend to hug the ground
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