Determine Physical Hazards:

Steps

	Useful Web links: American Associate of School Administrators' State Crisis Plan and the Associate of School Administrators' Plan for Conducting a Self-Assessment of School Safety.

Step 1: Assess natural disasters that can occur in your district, i.e. Hurricane, tornado, flood, forest fire, tidal wave, volcano, and earthquake.

Step 2: Assess health crisis situations that can occur in your district, i.e. Anthrax, food poisoning, contagious disease.

Step 3: Assess hazardous waste situations that could occur in your district, i.e. hazardous spills, toxic fumes.
Topics 1, 2 and 3 deal with possible disasters and crisis situations that could occur in your school district. It is important to focus on and identify disasters, both natural and man made that could occur in your district. For example, is your district located in an area that is subject to tornadoes, forest fires, floods and hurricanes? Is your district located in an area that has large chemical or medical plants? Is your district located close to a nuclear energy source? Fire, police, local health authorities and the Department of Natural Resources are sources of information for dealing with these natural disasters. Working with public agencies can enhance needed support should any of these crises occur in the school setting.

Step 4: Assess terrorist/ intruder/weapon crises that could occur in your district.
The chance for terrorist/intruder and weapon crises has risen significantly in the past several years. Do you have a plan of action should an unauthorized person enter your building? Many school systems have developed simple plans to assure the safety of the school population. For example: a code could be established to be announced over the loud speaker. “Mr. Blue, please report to the office”. Trained faculty and staff would recognize this as a warning to lock classroom doors and keep students within the classroom.

Step 5: Develop a response to a suicide/death of a student/faculty/staff member. The death of a student/faculty or staff member requires not only a response to the physical situation but also emotional support is needed for the school community. There are many web sites devoted to a step-by-step plan for involving and supporting the community in the grief process.