Emergency Procedures
Emergency Procedures
If you are using the facilities of CEGEP Champlain - St. Lawrence, as a student, employee or visitor, please familiarize yourself with the emergency evacuation procedures below.
Emergency Measures
Armed intrudor or active shooter
How to respond to an armed individual or active shooter
In the presence of an individual or group armed with firearms, knives, explosives, or other weapons that is threatening the lives and safety of others: save your life!
Analyze the situation and choose the best option according to your location, the circumstances, and your proximity to the assailant. Continue to assess the situation, your surroundings, and your options. Choose the most suitable action among those described below.
- RUN
If there’s a way out, run!
- Alert people around you
- Get out, no matter whether other people follow you or not
- Leave your personal belongings behind
- Keep your hands visible
- Don’t try to move people who are hurt
- Alert people you meet to the danger
- Once you’re out of danger, call 911
- HIDE
If you can’t run, hide in a safe place
If you can’t run, protect yourself by finding shelter, hiding, or creating a barricade if you can.
- Stay away from windows, doors, and high-visibility areas with lots of glass
- Lock the doors or barricade them with furniture
- Don’t stay behind the door: spread out and lie on the ground
- Close and lock the windows and shut the blinds
- Be quiet
- Turn of all lights, screens, and projectors
- Put your cellphones on silent mode and only use them to communicate with emergency services
- Make sure you’re out of danger, then call 911
- Don’t open the door to anyone, the police will come and get you when the danger has passed (check with 911 before opening the door if you’re unsure)
- In this type of situation, don’t evacuate if the fire alarm goes off, but watch for signs of fire (smoke, flames, smell) and continue to reassess your options based on the situation
- FIGHT
As a last resort, if you don’t have any other options and your life is in direct and imminent danger, defend yourself, fight, and try to stop, disarm, or weaken your assailant using whatever means at your disposal (chair, extinguisher, etc.). Once you’re safe, call 911.
Other information and instructions
- Don’t voluntarily pull a file alarm pull station (red case) to alert people to the presence of an armed individual or active shooter, since evacuating may not be the best option for everyone and may put people in harm’s way.
- When the police arrive, stay calm and don’t make any sudden movements. Put your hands in the air and follow the instructions of the authorities.
- The law forbids the presence of weapons and fake weapons in university spaces. If you see a weapon, you must report it by calling 911.
What to do in response to an active shooter?