Be in the Know: Emergency Communications at South Seattle College
South Seattle College recently participated in The Great Washington Shake Out on October 19, our annual earthquake preparedness drill. During this time students, faculty and staff practiced the “drop, cover, and hold” technique in the event of an actual earthquake.
With that drill fresh in our minds, now is a good time to remind our students of the ways in which we communicate emergency messages and information on unexpected campus closures.
Stay Connected: Emergency Communications at South
Please verify you are receiving alerts, and that you know where to find the most up-to-date information during an emergency or unexpected campus closure.
Please be advised, not every drill or real emergency may employ all of these communication methods. For example, if you hear a "lockdown" alert played over a loudspeaker, do not ignore it because you have not received a text message alert. It is safest to heed every warning you receive.
- SeattleCollegesAlerts: The SeattleCollegesAlerts system provides text, phone and email alerts in emergency and unexpected closure situations. Learn more about the system here, including how to update your information and preferences. SeattleCollegesAlerts are automatically sent to your email registered with the college, and we highly recommend setting your preferences to have text and voice messages sent to your cell phone as well. Please note your contact information will never be shared with a third party.
- Website: Emergency and closure announcements will be posted in the top banner of South’s website.
- Social media: Emergency and closure notifications will be posted to South’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
- Public address system: Broadcasts of emergency information will be sent to the outdoor blue towers on campus.
- Computer pop-up messages: All campus computers connected to the active directory domain and actively logged in can be interrupted by a pop-up message with emergency information.
- Speaker phone messages: Select phones on campus will have their speakers activated to broadcast emergency information.
- Main campus phone message: The main campus phone line (206-934-5300) message will be switched to an emergency closure announcement.
- FlashAlert.net and news media: In the case of unexpected closures, South will post that information to the region-wide FlashAlert.net system, which then feeds that information to news media in the area. You can also visit the FlashAlert website directly, click on the “Seattle/Puget Sound/Western Wash.” region and search our college.
Know Your Plan: Emergency Procedures at South
In the event of an emergency on campus, such as an earthquake, fire, armed intruder or other disturbance, please follow the procedures outlined in the Seattle Colleges’ Workplace and Classroom Emergencies information online.
Get Help: Contacting Campus Security in Emergencies
Campus Security can be reached at 206.934.0911 (we recommend adding this number to your cell phone contacts in case of an on-campus emergency).
There are also emergency phones located across campus in yellow cases that say "Emergency” and on blue posts labeled “Emergency.” These phones do not have a dialer or dial tone and will ring into South Campus Security’s cell phone within 10 seconds. View map with locations of campus emergency phones.