University of Georgia Building Safety and Security Representative (BSSR) Policy
Office of Emergency Preparedness
View policy pdf: Building Safety and Security Representative BSSR Policy
Policy Statement
The University of Georgia recognizes the importance of providing threat assessments, information, training, and resources to promote the safety of all students, faculty, staff, visitors, and security of campus facilities. In order for UGA to provide appropriate and timely safety and security information and response to its distributed campus, each organizational unit must designate a primary safety and security representative for each occupied University building.
When members of one organizational unit occupy several buildings, different representatives should be designated for each building whenever feasible since safety and security representatives must be able to respond quickly to emergency situations occurring in specific buildings. When one building is occupied by several different organizational units, affected administrators may agree to designate a single representative for all building occupants (even if they are not in the same organizational unit) or multiple representatives may be designed to act on behalf of each occupying department; however, coordination among building representatives will be crucial to ensure all building occupants are represented. Both on and off-campus units should designate safety and security representatives.
Each primary representative should have at least one designated backup. Departments may specify multiple backups as warranted to ensure emergency messages can be received and acted upon at all times. Ideally, safety and security representatives will have authority to approve emergency building maintenance and repair work orders for the buildings they represent.
The University of Georgia Office of Emergency Preparedness collects and maintains a list of safety and security representatives and their emergency contact information. This list can be accessed only by the UGA Police Department, Environmental Safety Division, Facilities Management Division, Office of Information Security, Biosafety Office, and Office of Emergency Preparedness to notify representatives of relevant safety and security alerts and emergency information. Requests for updating safety and security representative information should be handled without delay to ensure effective emergency responses.
Safety and security representatives are responsible for:
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Serving as the 24/7 emergency point of contact regarding safety and security issues affecting their building
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Developing emergency operations plans for their building (in conjunction with UGA’s Emergency Operations Manager)
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Executing and evaluating emergency drills coordinated by the UGA’s Emergency Operations Manager
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Receiving and monitoring emergency communications from campus safety units and disseminating relevant information throughout the building
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Providing appropriate training for students, faculty, and staff in their building using Train-the-Trainer materials provided by campus safety units
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Addressing and coordinating safety and security related actions through the appropriate administrative authority
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Ensuring building safety and health concerns are reported to the appropriate administrators as defined in the Environmental Safety Division’s Safety and Health Concerns policy
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Coordinating with their departmental Information Security Liaison regarding information security issuess
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Coordinating building activities and training with laboratory, radiation, and other safety personnel as appropriate
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Serving on campus safety and security committees
Policy definitions
Building Emergency Action Plan (BEAP)
The emergency action plan each building is required to complete utilizing the MyBEAP online plan generator, BEAP checklist and associated forms.
Building Safety and Security Representative (BSSR)
A representative selected by a Dean, Department Head or Director to serve as the building coordinator for emergency planning, safety and security activities. Each occupied UGA building should have one Primary BSSR and can have multiple Backup BSSR representatives. Backup BSSRs are often drawn from each department that occupies the building and may be a part of the Building Safety Team.
Building Safety Team (BST)
Consists of representatives from each department or unit in the building chosen by each departmental manager to participate in the development of the BEAP for the building. Backup BSSRs should serve on the BST.
Emergency Action Plan Summary (EAPS)
A one-page BEAP summary created to be a useful guide that can be posted in common areas, offices, hallways and classrooms within your building to provide visible instructions for the most common incidents that might occur on campus.
Emergency Evacuation Coordinator (EEC)
Building personnel chosen by the BST and/or the BSSR to provide coordination for any type of emergency for each floor in the building. EECs should be located on each floor and be able to quickly and safely evacuate, shelter, or guide building personnel as to appropriate emergency procedures during building emergencies. EECs should have backups and should be able to quickly communicate and coordinate with one another during an emergency.
Emergency Response Team (ERT)
The UGAEmergency Response Team includes University of Georgia cabinet-level administrators, department heads and technicians from critical campus departments, a representative from the University System Office and representatives from the Athens-Clarke County Government. The UGA ERT is comprised of a Core Group Team who would likely be notified of all large-scale campus emergencies and an ERT Support Group Team, of which specific members would be activated based on their Emergency Support Function (ESF) relative to the specific emergency.
MyBEAP
Developed by OSEP, the MyBEAP is an easy and efficient web-based method to create a Building Emergency Action Plan (BEAP). After BSSRs complete eleven user friendly sections, the system will automatically generate a building specific BEAP.
UGA Emergency Operations Plan (UGA EOP)
The UGA EOP is a comprehensive campus emergency plan which contains campus emergency procedures and protocols, resource lists, emergency communication plans, the BEAP and other critical campus emergency planning and preparedness information.
FAQs
See OEP’s BSSR FAQs
Related infromation
Responsibilities
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: Adam Fouche, Director
Phone: 706-542-5845
Date Issued: 10/05/2016
Last Reviewed/Updated: