Mitigation
School safety and emergency management experts often
use the terms prevention and mitigation differently.
Crises experts encourage schools to consider the full
range of what they can do to avoid crises (when possible),
or lessen their impact. Assessing and addressing the safety
and integrity of facilities (window seals, HVAC systems,
building structure), security (functioning locks, controlled
access to the school), and the culture and climate of
schools through policy and curricula are all important for
preventing and mitigating possible future crises.
Mitigation and prevention require taking inventory of the dangers in a school and community and identifying what to do to prevent and reduce injury and property damage. For example:
- Establishing access control procedures and providing IDs for students and staff might prevent a dangerous intruder from coming onto school grounds.
- Conducting hurricane drills can reduce injury to students and staff because they will know what to do to avoid harm. Also, schools in hurricane-prone areas can address structural weaknesses in their buildings.
- Planning responses to and training for incidents involving hazardous materials is important for schools near highways.
There are resources in every community that can help with this process. Firefighters, police, public works staff, facilities managers, and the district’s insurance representative, for example, can help conduct a hazard assessment. That information will be very useful in identifying problems that need to be addressed in the preparedness process. Rely on mergency responders, public health agencies, and school nurses to develop plans for and provide training in medical triage and first aid.
Definition
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
has done considerable work to help states and communities
in the area of mitigation planning. It notes that
the goal of mitigation is to decrease the need for response
as opposed to simply increasing response capability.
[Mitigation is] any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from a hazard event. Mitigation […] encourages long-term reduction of hazard vulnerability (FEMA, 2002).
Mitigating emergencies is also important from a legal standpoint. If a school, district, or state does not take all necessary actions in good faith to create safe schools, it could be vulnerable to a suit for negligence. It is important to make certain that the physical plant is up to local codes as well as federal and state laws.
Goal of Mitigation
The goal of mitigation is to decrease the need for response as opposed to simply increasing response capability.
- Connect with community emergency responders to identify local hazards.
- Review the last safety audit to examine school buildings and grounds.
- Determine who is responsible for overseeing violence prevention strategies in your school.
- Encourage staff to provide input and feedback during the crisis planning process.
- Review incident data.
- Determine major problems in your school with regard to student crime and violence.
- Assess how the school addresses these problems.
- Conduct an assessment to determine how these problems—as well as others—may impact your vulnerability to certain crises.