In a still-developing incident, a reported 43 students and 5 adults were overcome with carbon monoxide poisoning at an Atlanta elementary school this morning.  This is an important reminder that there are a lot of other types of crisis events that could necessitate the evacuation of a school besides a fire.  It is not uncommon to see news stories of factory fires or other community hazards that give need for schools to evacuate.

Medical experts say that there are not likely to be any permanent injuries with a relatively low level of carbon monoxide poisoning, but that parents should watch for long term symptoms that may appear in students.

This reminds of a recent edition of “Ask Safe Havens” that discusses functional protocols (a series of response procedures and action steps that can be adapted to a wide variety of crisis events) and why they are helpful for school safety and crisis planning.  In the next episode we will discuss incident specific protocols (action steps to be taken during a specific type of crisis).

Functional protocols (Ask Safe Havens) from Safe Havens International on Vimeo.

Comment on this blog post or on one of our video posts with your questions for future episodes of “Ask Safe Havens”.