BruinAlert readies for emergencies

By Ajay Singh

On an average workday, some 69,000 staff, students and faculty are on campus — and communicating with them in the event of an emergency is a vital challenge.

On May 29, the university came closer to its goal of warning as many people as possible about an unfolding crisis through the "BruinAlert" multimedia system, launched last November partly in response to the April 2007 mass shootings at Virginia Tech.

At 12:03 p.m., the office of UCLA General Services Emergency Management disseminated a total of 47,785 SMS text messages, e-mails and desktop alerts to students, staff and administrators. The alert comprised a single sentence: "In the event of an actual emergency, you will be provided with official information and instructions."

For the first time, the alert was sent to 1,751 administrators. Another 91 administrators and staff members received the alert in the form of a pop-up message on their desktop computers. In addition, the alert was displayed on cable television channels across campus for about six minutes.

The entire exercise was conducted in 4-5 minutes and in "five to 15 minutes, almost everyone to whom the alerts were sent had received and recognized them," said David S. Burns, emergency preparedness manager of General Services.

"As we expand the system we will have a more robust capability that will allow us to poll and analyze the responses we get,"Burns added. "Right now it's about increasing awareness."

BruinAlert is meant only for emergencies on campus that pose a physical danger or off-campus events requiring caution. These include everything from thunderstorms and earthquakes to a hazardous materials spill and a police emergency.

In fact, campus emergency authorities currently have 16 pre-scripted emergency scenarios. "We'll easily reach 20 by the end of the year in incremental phases," Burns said, adding: "We just add the location of the emergency, fill in the blanks and send the alert."

And the alerts aren't limited to e-mails, SMS text messages, desktop pop-ups, cable TV scrolling banners and AM radio. Other options include voice-over fire alarms, vehicle public address systems, media releases through University Communications — and at least two decidedly low-tech approaches: residential aides knocking on doors and spreading the message by word of mouth.

"Most people will ignore alerts unless they get it from multiple means," Burns explained, adding: "We spent well over $600,000 over the last two years on emergency systems and we're going to spend more over the next 18 months to bring new systems in."

In an attempt to broaden BruinAlert's scope and reach, the office of emergency management is evaluating a range of audio and visual alerting systems for classrooms and hallways, partly because many professors require their students to switch off their cell phones in class and forbid them from navigating the Internet.

BruinAlert currently covers 32%-33% of the student population. "We're trying to reach maximum saturation but it's a phenomenal effort to reach everybody," said Burns, adding: 'What if someone's in the shower?"

Perhaps the most exciting application of BruinAlert is its impending use on social networking sites, which are highly popular among students. Burns' office is working with a private company that is coordinating a plan with social networking sites such as Facebook to disseminate BruinAlerts to anyone who has signed up as a "friend of the university." (These most include students and alumni but can also be parents or just about anyone who has an interest in or link to the university.)

The idea of issuing BruinAlerts on social networking sites came from a master's thesis developed by Sara Cohen, an intern in Burns' office who will graduate with a masters in public policy this June.

"She developed a template for emergency management social networking that will probably become a national model," said Burns. "We are in the process of marketing it, which shows we're on the cutting edge, collaborating with our students."