Faculty and Staff – Mason Ready | Emergency Management & Fire Safety

This page contains information and resources to help you prepare yourself, colleagues, students, and office for an emergency at George Mason University. If you have any questions about emergency preparedness, please contact Risk, Safety, & Resilience (RSR).

Personal Preparedness

Mason Alert

Mason Alert is George Mason University’s emergency notification system used to send emergency notifications and timely warnings to the university community. All university employees are automatically enrolled in Mason Alert, and are strongly advised to register cell phone numbers and any additional email addresses to ensure emergency messages are received in a timely manner. To manage your alert preferences, log into your Mason Alert account using your PatriotPass password.

Emergency Preparedness Flipbooks

Risk, Safety, & Resilience (RSR) provides emergency preparedness flipbooks for faculty and staff. This pocket-sized resource contains information on how to prepare for and respond to emergencies that may occur on campus, to include: building evacuation, severe weather, shelter-in-place procedures, on-campus violence, regional emergencies, medical emergencies, and emergency contact numbers. RSR- Emergency Management & Fire safety will deliver Emergency Preparedness Flip Books to university offices upon request. Please contact RSR to place a request.

Emergency Preparedness App

Rave Guardian is a campus safety mobile application that enhances preparedness and safety on-campus using interactive features and allowing students to create a virtual network of friends, family and campus safety personnel. The application also includes anonymous, two-way crime reporting through text and picture messaging. Click here for more information. The application is available to anyone with a university email address for free through the iTunes store and the Google Play store.

Personal Emergency Kits

During emergencies, resource availability may be limited and environmental conditions may change from established patterns. Members of the Mason community should have an emergency kit at home, at work, and in their personal vehicle. For instructions on how to build an emergency kit and suggestions for what items to include, visit ready.gov/kit. For a list of additional items to keep in your car, as well as, a mechanic check list to prepare your vehicle for emergencies, visit ready.gov/car.

Departmental Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness Workshops

RSR provides training and consultation on how to prepare your work area for emergencies that may occur on campus. Offices may request training by contacting rsr@gmu.edu. During this workshop, RSR will assist your unit in creating a customized Emergency Procedures poster that identifies assembly areas, shelter areas, code words, and safety equipment that may be necessary in an emergency. Units will also receive convenient Emergency Preparedness Flip Books for all participants, assistance registering cell phones with Mason Alert, and information about the university’s public safety mobile app, RAVE Guardian. Click here to request training for your unit.

Continuity of Operations Planning

George Mason University maintains a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), which provides a framework to minimize potential impact and allow for rapid recovery from an incident that disrupts operations. Risk, Safety, & Resilience is currently expanding COOP to include additional units, departments, and research activities. For more information on COOP and the university’s Research Continuity Template, please click here.

Emergency Signage

In addition to lighted EXIT signs in every building at Mason, additional signage is posted that we recommend you become familiar with to be prepared for emergencies.

Emergency Procedures Posters: Large green and gold Emergency Procedures Posters (PDF) provide quick and easy to follow instructions on how to respond to emergency situations. Posters are available in two sizes; 8.5 x 13 or 15.5 x 24 inches. If you would like to obtain generic or a Customized Emergency Procedures Poster for your work area, please send a request to rsr@gmu.edu. You may also request that posters be installed in your classroom(s).

Evacuation Plans: These plans indicate primary and alternate exit routes, the location of fire extinguishers, location of AED, and provide the physical address of each building on campus.

Severe Weather Shelter Areas: These placards indicate publicly accessible shelter locations where you may seek shelter during severe weather emergencies. Severe Weather Shelter Area signs are posted outside certain stairwells, interior hallways, and rooms. For more information, please refer to the Tornado and Severe Weather Guide (PDF).

Emergency Response Information

Notification

You will be notified of an emergency on campus via Mason Alert. When notified of an emergency, it is important to remain calm and follow any instructions you receive from emergency responders or university officials. During emergencies, cell phone towers are frequently overwhelmed by large call volume which may prevent others from calling for help. If possible, use text messaging to communicate with friends and family during emergencies to leave phone lines open for those who need them most.

Emergency Management & Fire Safety

George Mason University maintains a comprehensive Emergency Management & Fire Safety program. In an emergency, university officials convene and utilize emergency plans to coordinate response activities and provide support to first responders and those impacted by the emergency. University plans are designed to protect students, employees, and visitors. To learn more, please contact Emergency Management & Fire Safety.

Police & Public Safety

Mason maintains its own full-time, sworn Police force. Police and Public Safety works closely with regional law enforcement, fire, and rescue departments to protect our community and respond to emergencies on campus. To learn more about Police and Public Safety, visit police.gmu.edu.

Public Safety

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is a combined report that includes, but is not limited to; campus safety and security policies, statistics for Clery Act crimes on university property, adjacent property, and non-university property owned or controlled by the university for the previous three years; and fire statistics for on-campus student housing facilities for the previous three years.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Title IX of the Education Amendments of the 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender under any education program or activity receiving federal funding. Sexual assault and sexual harassment are forms of sex discrimination prohibited under Title IX. More information related specifically to Title IX compliance, bystander intervention, etc. can be found on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion website here.

Training

Depending upon the nature of your work, you may be required to attend training shortly after joining Mason or beginning a new work activity. Examples of work tasks that require training are: working in a laboratory; handling hazardous materials; working with animals; handling human tissue or other potentially infectious materials; and exposure to loud noises or respiration hazards. Additional training may be required by equipment manufactures or grant sponsors. For a complete list of training provided by Risk, Safety, & Resilience, please click here.

Classroom Resources

Emergency Preparedness Syllabus Insert

Including emergency information in your course syllabus is an easy way to share important information with your students. Risk, Safety, & Resilience (RSR) has created a template that Faculty can copy and paste into existing syllabi. Faculty can fill in the blanks for their students before class, or they can discuss it in person on the first day and have the students identify and record the details as a group. For those interested in having a discussion with their students, talking points are also included in the same document. For questions, contact RSR.

Classroom Disruptions

Classroom disruptions can be distracting to students and faculty alike. Student Support and Advocacy Center (SSAC) provides comprehensive services for students in an effort to foster the safety and well-being of the Mason community. SSAC services include assisting students who are encountering barriers to their academic success or personal growth, interpersonal violence prevention, alcohol and drug education, health promotion/healthy relationships, student crisis intervention, and connecting students with appropriate campus and off-campus resources. Contact SSAC at 703-993-3686 or ssac@gmu.edu for more information or assistance.

In addition to SSAC, the University’s Threat Assessment Team (TAT) reviews and manages reports of individuals who demonstrate violent, threatening, disturbing, or erratic behavior that constitute violence against another individual or are precursors to committing acts of violence. TAT evaluates concerning behaviors that present a threat to safety through a proactive, coordinated and thoughtful approach by identification, assessment, and management of situations that pose, or may reasonably pose, a threat to the safety and well-being of the campus community and will intervene as necessary.

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