Emergency Evacuation Procedures
The University of California, Davis has a comprehensive system for emergency planning. Under this system, each Department has an emergency plan, including a building evacuation plan, and a safety coordinator charged with implementing that plan.
During classes, students with disabilities can usually rely on their professors and peers to notify them of or assist them with an emergency evacuation. If you will be spending time alone in a particular building on a regular basis, you should contact the safety coordinator responsible for that area to discuss your needs.
As part of their training, the safety coordinators are given guidelines on how to assist individuals with disabilities during an evacuation. In some circumstances, it will not be safe for the safety coordinator or others to evacuate an individual with a disability. In those circumstances, the coordinators will notify emergency personnel of the individual's location and need for assistance.
Campus Emergency Phones
There are emergency phones and call boxes placed throughout campus, usually on poles with blue lights on the top. For all of those phones, the emergency response system is activated simply by lifting the receiver. Emergency personnel will be sent to the phone's location immediately, even if the person activating the phone does not speak.
Elevator Emergency Systems
Each elevator on campus has an alarm system. Some have only an alarm button, with no two-way communication. If that alarm is activated, the emergency response system will send emergency personnel to the elevator. Some elevators have telephones or speakers. In those elevators, the emergency response system is alerted when the receiver is lifted or the speaker button is pushed. As with the campus emergency phones, emergency personnel will be sent even if the person activating the system does not speak.