Crisis Management Plan

All crises and emergencies at Penn are managed under the administrative framework prescribed in the University of Pennsylvania Crisis Management Plan (CMP). The Division of Public Safety (DPS) is the lead agency for maintaining the plan, recommending revisions to the plan and exercising the CMP with all schools, centers and divisions.

The CMP establishes a two-tiered structure for managing emergency situations. At the highest level, the Crisis Management Team (CMT) is the policy group. The CMT makes policy decisions and holds ultimate responsibility for decisions involving communications, evacuation, University closings and business logistics and normalization. The CMT, comprising members of Penn’s senior administration, is directed by the President, and chaired by the Provost and Executive Vice President.

The second-tier includes the Incident Management Team (IMT). The IMT is the operations group and coordinates all operational responses to the emergency. The IMT establishes an Emergency Operations Center, comprising representatives of all relevant emergency response entities, such as DPS, Facilities and Environmental Health & Radiation Safety. The IMT operates under an incident command system composed of emergency personnel as needed.

The CMP outlines responsibilities of the CMT members and of the organizations comprising the IMT, and sets forth communications chains to be employed as necessary. Under the CMP, the Division of Public Safety and other agencies at Penn employ a functional system of command, control, communications and coordination that allow all schools and centers to operate in unison to prepare for, respond to and recover from any crisis incident that impacts the Penn community. This functional system operates by allowing the Incident Commander, as the leader of the IMT, to develop strategies to manage a crisis incident by using an ‘all-hazards’ approach that standardizes the operational response of the University across any type of crisis incident that could evolve.

Crisis Levels

The CMP establishes three levels of campus emergencies.

Level I:

Can be handled in the context of normal University operations and resources.

Examples of a Level I emergency include: A minor lab spill (chemical) of a limited and containable nature, fire alarm activations, burglaries, assaults, vehicular and pedestrian accidents.

Level II:

Requires the IMT to convene to ensure a coordinated operational response; no major policy or communications issues are implicated at this level.

Examples of a Level II emergency include: A power outage, steam leak, flooding or a water main break affecting a limited portion of the campus.

Level III:

The highest level of emergency, impacts the entire University or a significant portion of the University community, requiring coordinated operational and policy responses.

Examples of a Level III emergency include: A fire, a major flood or hurricane, an active shooter incident, a terrorist attack or an accidental release of a hazardous material (chemical, biological, nuclear etc.) not confined to a single or limited location.

Additionally, the plan defines a “Watch” for normal operations when all agencies and organizations are functioning normally and a “Warning” when there is a pending or potential critical incident or event that may impact the University within 24 hours.