Emergency Procedures

We are expected to be prepared for such adverse possibilities, and we ask you to take a moment as the semester begins to think about what we need you to do should something disrupt the normal routine here. We focus on three primary types of situations:

1. An event that prompts us to evacuate a building (a fire or chemical spill, for example) – In the event of an evacuation, the alarm system will be activated to notify you to exit the building. In some buildings, an electronic alarm is sounded, and in other buildings managers will use bull-horns to announce the evacuation.In either case, you simply need to leave the building immediately in an orderly manner (do not use the elevator) and assemble outside at least 300 feet away from the building. Each building has two or more emergency managers who will help oversee the evacuation and who will let you know when it’s appropriate to return to the building.


2. An event that prompts us to have you leave your office, classroom, or lab, but stay within the building (such as an impending severe storm) – This is a “shelter-in-place” situation, and either through the building’s PA system, if it has one, or by the emergency managers going through the halls, you will be instructed to leave your room.; The idea here is to move out of the building’s perimeter rooms into interior spaces as low in the building as possible (preferably in the basement) and as far away from windows as practical. If you are already on the first floor or basement level of your building, this may simply involve moving into the halls and shutting the door to the room you’ve just left. The emergency managers in the building will help direct you to the assembly points within the building.


3. An event that requires you to stop normal activities but remain in place until the threat has passed (such as violence somewhere on the campus) – This simply means you are to remain in the office, classroom, lab, or wherever you are, turn out the lights in the room, remain still and quiet, and stay there until instructed otherwise by campus authorities. University officials will use a variety of methods to communicate with the SMU community in such a situation, including office telephones, cell phones, text messaging, and where possible, classroom telephones.

We are required to conduct two safety drills during the year in each of our Dedman College buildings. One is an evacuation drill, and the other is a “shelter-in-place” exercise. We will do our best to minimize the disruption these drills cause to classes, but we have to prepare for the kind of possibilities that the drills represent. The attachment provides some very general information about evacuations and shelter-in-place procedures. Please remember that the elevator cannot be used during an evacuation, and when you gather outside the building, stay at least 300 feet from the building to provide adequate room for emergency personnel. In any of these situations, please alert emergency officials if you know of someone in the building who needs assistance.

Safety Procedures in Dedman College Buildings

All Buildings:

Silence Electronics

Carr-Collins Hall

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on the lawn in the law quad
Shelter-in-Place: use the stairs to move to first-floor corridor in the north half of the first floor

Clements Building

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on the lawn west of the building
Shelter-in-Place: persons in the basement remain on the basement level and move to the central part of the building; persons on all other floors proceed to the flagpole.

Dallas Hall

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on the lawn south of the building
Shelter-in-Place: persons on 1st floor proceed into halls and remain there; move away from either end of the hallway as much as possible; persons on all other floors proceed to central area of basement level (Reading Room)

Dedman Life Sciences Buildings

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on parking lot west of the building
Shelter-in-Place: proceed to one of the following rooms: 110 or 131

Fondren Science Buildings

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on the parking lot south of the building
Shelter-in-Place: persons on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors proceed to one of the following rooms if not already there: 123, 133, 152 or 158; persons on basement level floor proceed to corridor outside rooms 055 and 059 and assemble there

Heroy Hall

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on the lawn south of the building
Shelter-in-Place: proceed to room 153 and assemble there

Hyer Hall

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on the lawn west of the building
Shelter-in-Place: proceed to the basement via the southeast stairwell

McFarlin Auditorium

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble by the fountain east of the building
Shelter-in-Place: proceed to the basement lobby area in the east portion of the building

Umphrey Lee Building

Evacuation: leave the building through nearest exit and assemble on parking lot south of the building
Shelter-in-Place: proceed to the basement level and assemble in the south corridor of the building