Policy Statement

UGAAlert

• Will only be used when there is a severe threat to public safety and health of the entire campus that has not been contained or controlled and when immediate action is required on the part of the recipient group(s), (e.g. chemical spills impacting public health, tornado warnings, active shooters, etc.)
• Will not be used for non-emergency notifications such as lane closures, crime updates, inclement weather closings, localized building emergencies, situations that have been contained, situations where a threat does not exist, rumor control, situations where notification is merely a convenience or other situations when ArchNews is the most appropriate communication method
• Will not replace ArchNews for non-urgent messages
• Will be tested twice a year—during the February severe weather drill and again near the beginning of the fall semester
• Additional information about emergency situations when UGAAlert is activated will be posted on the UGA Emergency Website at www.emergency.uga.edu.

UGAAlertactivation - Athens Campus

• Can be authorized (and initiated) by the following individuals
• UGA President and any Vice President
• Chief, University of Georgia Police Department (UGAPD) or the Acting Chief of Police when the UGA Police Chief is not available
• Director, Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) or the Acting Director when the OEP Director is not available
• Can be initiated with AT&T Rave (UGAAlert vendor) by the following individuals following authorization by one of the individuals abov
• UGA PD Dispatchers
• Does not require approval when the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning

UGAAlert Activation – Griffin Campus

• Appropriate UGA Griffin Campus Initiators will be authorized and responsible for activating emergency messages via UGAAlert in accordance with UGAAlert use and activation policies
• Tornado warnings for the Griffin campus will be automatically issued 24/7 by the UGAAlert system based on the FIPS county code for Spalding County
• UGA Griffin Campus Initiators will receive training each year on activating and using the UGAAlert system from UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness personnel
• UGA Griffin Campus Initiators will be responsible for activating the UGAAlert system, in coordination with the Office of Emergency Preparedness, during two annual tests of the alert system

UGAAlertActivation – Gwinnett Campus

• Appropriate UGA Gwinnett Campus Initiators will be authorized and responsible for activating emergency messages via UGAAlert in accordance with UGAAlert use and activation policies
• Tornado warnings for the Gwinnett campus will be automatically issued 24/7 by the UGAAlert system based on the National Weather Service alerts for Gwinnett County using a specific polygon warning for a tornado warning that is located around the campus
• UGA Gwinnett Campus Initiators will receive training each year on activating and using the UGAAlert system from UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness personnel
• UGA Gwinnett Campus Initiators will be responsible for activating the UGAAlert system, in coordination with the UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness, during two annual tests of the alert system

UGAAlertActivation – Tifton Campus

• Appropriate UGA Tifton Campus Initiators will be authorized and responsible for activating emergency messages via UGAAlert in accordance with UGAAlert use and activation policies
• Tornado warnings for the Tifton campus will be automatically issued 24/7 by the UGAAlert system based on the FIPS county code for Tift County
• UGA Tifton Campus Initiators will receive training each year on activating and using the UGAAlert system from UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness personnel
• UGA Tifton Campus Initiators will be responsible for activating the UGAAlert system, in coordination with the Office of Emergency Preparedness, during two annual tests of the alert system

UGAAlertActivation – Skidaway Island (SKIO and MAREX)

• Appropriate UGA Skidaway Island Initiators will be authorized and responsible for activating emergency messages via UGAAlert in accordance with UGAAlert use and activation policies (Includes UGA personnel from both SKIO and Marex)
• Tornado warnings for the Skidaway Island campus will be automatically issued 24/7 by the UGAAlert system based on the FIPS county code for Chatham County
• UGA Skidaway Island Initiators will receive training each year on activating and using the UGAAlert system from UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness personnel
• UGA Skidaway Island Initiators will be responsible for activating the UGAAlert system, in coordination with the Office of Emergency Preparedness, during two annual tests of the alert system

Reason for policy

UGAAlert is the name chosen by UGA for the emergency mass notification system made available through the vendor, AT&T Rave. Effective communication is one of the major challenges in emergency management. UGAAlert is used to improve UGA’s ability to communicate prior to, during, and after emergencies. UGA students, faculty, and staff with a valid UGA MyID may include up to three telephone numbers and two email addresses to receive emergency alerts.

Additional contacts

The Office of Emergency Preparedness

Steve Harris, Director
Hodgson Oil Building
286 Oconee St, Ste 200 S
Athens, GA 30602

www.prepare.uga.edu 706-542-5845

Policy definitions

Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP)

The Office of Emergency Preparedness is responsible for homeland security initiatives and coordination of emergency management activities at UGA.

UGAAlert System

UGAAlert is the emergency mass notification system for UGA made available through the vendor, Blackboard- Connect-ED. UGA students, faculty, and staff with a valid MyID can register up to three telephone numbers and two email addresses to receive emergency alerts. The system can push out thousands of messages within minutes. UGAAlertDesktop is part of the UGAAlert System.

UGAAlert Desktop

UGAAlert Desktop is an application for a computer that will show emergency messages from UGAAlert on the UGA owned computer. Messages will crawl across the bottom of the computer when a message from UGAAlert is issued.

UGA Emergency Notification Activation Plan

The purpose of this plan is to highlight the emergency notification systems utilized on the UGA campus and to assemble the policies and procedures for these notification systems into one document. The UGA emergency notification systems are complementary to one another, so a plan explaining how each system works will help in understanding how they can be used together. Also, due to the fact that UGA has several campus locations, emergency alerting protocols for each campus are handled differently. It is also important to organize the activation protocols and policies that govern each system. In addition, the plan provides an overview of all the emergency notification systems in use at UGA, provides a summary of campus UGAAlert activations and tests, and discusses marketing strategies in order to provide students, staff, faculty and visitors with information about emergency notification systems on campus.

FAQs

See UGAAlert FAQs

Related information

UGA MyID
UGAAlert
UGA Emergency Notification Activation Plan
National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training Policy
University of Georgia Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Program Guidelines

Responsible University Senior Administrator: Vice President for Finance and Administration

Responsible University Administrator: Senior Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration

Policy Owner: Office of Emergency Preparedness

Policy Contact: Steven Harris, Director

Phone: 706-542-5845