Emergency Response & Evacuation Procedures
What is an Emergency?
An emergency is an unforeseen event or condition requiring prompt action. Emergencies at Middlesex Community College can be generally classified as medical emergencies, fire/fire alarm emergencies, and public safety emergencies & environmental emergencies. Emergency conditions either affect an individual, a small group or the entire college. In the case they affect the entire College they typically involve the evacuation of the campuses.
Reporting Criminal and Emergency Incidents
Middlesex Community College students, faculty, staff, guests and visitors are encouraged to report all crimes and public safety related incidents to the MCC Public Safety or Campus Safety Officer in a timely manner. Public Safety and the Campus Security Officer, based on their role, are mandated to report crimes and emergency incidents. Both the Lowell and Bedford campus maintain 24 hour coverage and are continually patrolled. Public Safety officers can be approached at any time.
Campus, Medical or Campus Safety Emergency
- Dial 911 immediately. When calling for an emergency or non-emergency incident, be
prepared to:
- Clearly identify yourself
- State where you are calling from
- State briefly the nature of your call
Non-Emergency Incidents
For Non-life threatening emergencies,
- Dial ext. 6224 from on-campus phones or
- Public Safety, Bedford: 781-589-0234 or
- Public Safety, Lowell: 781-589-1384
MCC strongly recommends that community members pre-program their cell phones with the MCC Public Safety phone numbers as well as local police agency’s non-emergency phone numbers.
Campus Evacuation
There are many reasons a campus may have to be evacuated. The most common reason for
evacuation is due to fire alarm activation. Other reasons for evacuating a campus
include, but are not limited to, a bomb threat, environmental condition or a physical
threat. When you are asked to evacuate the facility by Public Safety personnel, law
enforcement or the fire alarm sounds:
- Collect all personal belongings including book bags, jackets, brief cases, etc. Why? Because you can't count on returning to the building and in the case of a bomb threat such items would be considered suspicious and handled as a possible "device".
- Immediately leave the building following any verbal instructions and follow the evacuation route posted adjacent to the primary classroom exit door.
- Faculty should assign someone to provide assistance in assuring students with disabilities are directed to the evacuation point.
- Faculty should turn off all gas and electrical appliances. The lights should be left on, the corridor door closed and left unlocked.
- Upon exiting the building move well away from the building. This will prevent a "log jam" of people at the entranceway and allow the fire department swift access.
- Re-entry: The College public safety personnel shall notify you when it is safe to return to the building.
We recommend that faculty review the evacuation procedure with their class at the beginning of each semester. Students should also take time to review the evacuation route posted next to the primary classroom exit door.
We recommend that students with disabilities identify themselves to a faculty member if they feel they may require assistance during an evacuation. Together they can formulate an evacuation plan. Under no circumstances are the elevators to be used when a fire alarm is sounding.
Timely Warnings
The Middlesex Community College Emergency Alert system is intended to give students, faculty and staff timely notifications of incidents that may present an immediate threat to the campus community and to heighten safety awareness. The alerts can also be used to assist law enforcement agencies with widespread communications to our campus community with valuable and timely information to assist them with the management of an operation.
The safety of our students, staff and faculty is paramount to Middlesex Community College. The college has created a three-tier, Emergency Management Team consisting of more than 100 administrators to oversee all operations on campus, both during a crisis as well as in the planning and preparedness stages.
The Emergency Management Team shall be responsible for the activation of a Middlesex Community College Emergency Alert when an incident is reported to the team and rises to the level of a required widespread communication. The Emergency Management Team shall determine if there is a significant emergency or dangerous situation, determine the appropriate community members that should receive the notification, determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system.
Every effort will be made to distribute the alert in a timely manner; however, each release is subject to the availability of accurate information concerning the incident and if releasing information will compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to or otherwise mitigate the emergency. Alerts are distributed to faculty, students and staff through a variety of sources, including text messaging, phone calls, social media, or email.
Participation in the Emergency Alert system is “opt-out” meaning each community member is automatically in the system. Community members can elect to opt-out of the alert system, however that is not recommended. If the individual, however, elects not to share his/her cell phone information through the system, that individual will not receive electronic communications that are distributed through the automated Emergency Alert system. Other manners of communication, such as oral communications from security and Emergency Management Team personnel and audible instructions on the intercom system will also be used when necessary.
Middlesex Community College tests the Emergency Alert System annually, which may be announced or unannounced and may be limited to a small portion of the staff. Community members are encouraged to read these procedures in advance so they are prepared.
For questions related to emergency responses, evacuation procedures and timely warnings, please contact the Director of Public Safety, Daniel Martin at martind@middlesex.mass.edu, 781-280-3751, or Cataldo Building, room 211.
* For additional information, please visit: https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/disclosurestatements/downloads/cleryasr2014.pdf