620: SPS School Alarm Response
Responsible Administrator: Associated Superintendent, Corporate Services
PURPOSE
At times, staff is required to respond to intrusion, fire alarms and building emergencies such as heating failures, floods, etc.
PROCESS
The Associate Superintendent, Corporate Services will establish and monitor an administrative procedure that facilitates effective, efficient and appropriate processes that direct responses to emergency situations.
PROCEDURE
For Alarms Activated During “In-school” Hours
1. The Director of Facilities, in consultation with the school Principal, is responsible for assigning an employee(s) to respond to security and/or fire alarms.
2. The employee assigned in clause 3.1 is responsible to reset the alarms when an all-clear communication has been provided by the school administrator in charge.
3. The Principal or designate is responsible to advise the alarm company when alarms will be activated for the purpose of drills.
4. The Director of Facilities will ensure that the employee(s) identified in clause 1.0 above have appropriate training to activate and reset alarm systems.
For Alarms Activated During “Out-of-School” Hours
5. The Director of Facilities is responsible for assigning Operations and Maintenance staff to respond to security and/or fire alarms.
6. The Director of Facilities is responsible to advise the alarm company of the names of the employees responsible for responding to alarms.
7. The employee assigned to respond to an alarm will go to the building where the alarm has been activated, and;
7.1 wait for the arrival of the police before entering the building to reset the alarm if the security alarm system has been triggered; or
7.2 enter the building to reset the alarm if the fire alarm system has been activated.
8. The employee responding to the alarm is responsible to phone the alarm company and advise the company that the alarm system has been reset.
9. Before leaving the building, the employee responding to the alarm must ensure the building is locked and secured as per normal procedures.
10. If an alarm is activated in error, the school, department, or user group responsible for same will be charged $150 to cover the costs associated with responding to the alarm. The school or department responsible will be informed of this charge.
10.1 Time for call-outs is to be recorded on the regular “General Pay Plan Employee Timesheet” as per normal procedures, and employees shall be compensated at the overtime rate for each call-out.
11. The employee responding to an alarm will submit a report on the matter to the Director of Facilities using the form entitled “Alarm Response Report”.
12. Upon approval of the Alarm Response Report, the Director of Facilities will forward the report to the Associate Superintendent, Corporate Services for processing.
13. To better ensure that false alarms are not encountered, it is recommended that:
13.1 A set of instructions, for arming and disarming the alarm, be posted at appropriate alarm stations in the school.
13.2 A log sheet for identifying people, who have armed and disarmed the alarm system, be set up at each appropriate station in the school.
References:
Employment Standards Code
History
2020 Jan 29 Initial Approval
2020 Apr 22 Amended
Administrative Procedures VI. Facilities