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Emergency & Security Management Unit

School Lockdowns

The DET Approach

Introduction 2

Causal Factors 2

Types of Lockdowns 3

Assessing the Risk 3

Engaging with Emergency Services 4

Developing Lockdown procedure 5

Delegated person 5

Communicating during Lockdowns 5

Practicing Lockdowns 7

First Aid 7

Social media 7

Debriefing 8

Appendix

DET Lockdown Process 9

The DET Approach to School Lockdowns

Introduction

The Department of Education and Training (DET) has adopted an all-hazards approach to disaster and emergency management. Schools are required to have an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) which outlines their response to a disaster or emergency. The ERP will be actioned prior to, or during, a disaster or emergency and involves a series of actions for the Principal and staff to implement. A key element of such plans is the utilisation of Evacuations or Lockdowns as a response (protocol or tactic) to a threat or risk. This document will deal with Lockdowns.

Some definitions of a Lockdown include, “a state of containment or a restriction of progression”, “a security measure taken during an emergency to prevent people from leaving or entering a building” and “a security measure in which those inside a building such as a school or hospital are required to remain confined in it for a time”.

For DET, a Lockdown is essentially the securing of staff and students within buildings and stopping or restricting any access into buildings and ceasing external movement about the school until the threat or risk has been resolved.

There may be a range of causal factors leading to a Lockdown but the frequency of armed incidents occurring within educational centres overseas cannot be ignored during the development of local Lockdown procedures. Whilst Queensland state schools have not seen a significant level of violent acts within schools, future acts of violence including armed offenders or ‘active shooters’ cannot be excluded. Such acts of extreme violence will place a level of responsibility and stress on Principals, Teachers and Students not previously experienced. Central to their response will be the tactic of a Lockdown.

The primary objective of instigating a Lockdown is to enhance the safety of staff and students during incidents. A secondary objective is to prepare the school site for emergency services responses to support that primary objective.

Causal Factors

The causal factors for the consideration or enactment of a Lockdown could be due to:

An accident on, or in close proximity to, school grounds which introduces hazards to the school environment, e.g. an actual or potential toxic gas or liquid emission;

An incursion onto school grounds of a dangerous animal(s);

A rapid onset extreme weather event;

An incursion, onto school grounds, of a policing action which may involve the use of force or violence;

A threat being made against the students, staff or school;

An act of violence on school grounds or nearby which increases the risk to staff or students;

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A direct act of violence against the students or staff; or

An act of terrorism in, about or near the school.

At the extreme end of the spectrum this may include incidents involving ‘armed attackers’ or ‘improvised explosive devices’. These will cause a significant level of stress being placed, not only on victims but, on those people entrusted with responsibility and decision making within the school. A logical, practiced response is essential.

Types of Lockdowns

Each causal factor or scenario could conceivably give rise to a variation of a Lockdown and this could lead to multiple types of Lockdowns being defined. However this may be counter-productive in that under pressure the recognition of which type of Lockdown is being signalled may increase confusion amongst staff and students which could inadvertently increase the risk to staff and/or students.

There are two types of Lockdowns to be implemented and these are to be called:

1. A Full Lockdown. This type of Lockdown is in response to a man-made incident involving the use, or potential use, of force against others. The Lockdown requires the confinement of people in secured buildings with additional measures to prevent any threat from entering the buildings or from being able to see or hear staff or students.

2. A Shelter-in-Place Lockdown. This type of Lockdown is in response to weather, air, liquid, fire or dangerous animals or other events which requires internal confinement but with certain measures can allow schools to continue functioning whilst the event passes or is managed by the emergency services.

There is only one signal for a lockdown and this is for a Full Lockdown. The adjustment to a Shelter-in-Place Lockdown should be managed by the use of the internal communications system (e.g., PA system, phones, bull-horn, etc.) by the Principal or his delegate.

Assessing the risk

Matters involving the consideration of a Lockdown will invariably have a rapid onset and not lend themselves to any detailed risk assessment or appreciation. Decisions to enact a Lockdown will need to be made quickly on usually imperfect information.

Immediately upon receiving some threatening or adverse information affecting the staff, students or school, some key questions need to be considered, such as:

If this threat or risk is real, could it cause harm, injury or death to staff or students? Is the threat or risk imminent? Am I able to immediately reduce or eliminate the threat or risk safely? What could happen if I do nothing?

With the safety of staff and students being paramount, the notion of initially ‘erring on the side of caution’ is supported by the Department. This will usually see the Lockdown enacted

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and emergency services contacted. This will then see a period, when safety has been enhanced, where a more detailed risk assessment can be conducted by the Principal and others, including the emergency services, as better information emerges.

Engaging with Emergency Services

It is important to understand the role of the police, other emergency services or legislative bodies who respond to a call for assistance from a school and the key legislation or policy that may be enacted in a disaster or emergency scenario. For example, in a Lockdown which has emanated from an armed attack, the police may not initially engage with the school staff on-site, but rather move tactically to locate and mitigate the threat. It will also follow that the police, in the first instance, may disregard persons who are injured and require medical attention. Their primary role is to firstly stop the threat from causing further injury or death.

When the threat has been contained, managed or eliminated the police will then be able to turn their attention to providing aid and comfort.

When the emergency services respond they only take command of their incident response and the Team Leader or Supervisor commands their staff to achieve their objectives. They do not assume any command of the School, the Principal or the Staff. But they provide advice as to what needs to be done by, or within the school, or they give directions for certain things to happen.

It is important to understand the difference between being provided advice and being given directions. Advice usually comes from an officer assessing an incident and using experience to provide information about what he/she recommends should be done. Directions are given when officers assessing the gravity of the situation decide to enact legislation and utilise the accompanying powers. From this they may give directions as to what is to occur and use powers to physically impose activities to achieve a solution. If in any doubt the question should be asked for clarity, “Is this advice or a direction?”

In short, advice may be accepted or rejected, but directions must be complied with. Normally the relationship with the police is very collegial, but an occasion may occur when a Principal does not concur with the advice received by the Police or other emergency service or is not prepared to comply with such advice due to a range of reasons, such as the assessed impact on the safety of the staff or students. See Section 1.7 of the DET Disaster and Emergency Management Arrangements.

On most other occasions Police will immediately engage with the Principal and staff and work collaboratively to resolve the issue.

Developing Lockdown procedures

A generic Lockdown Process is attached at Appendix 1. This template is to be used for the School Lockdown Strategy. It may be amended to suit specific schools. Some issues which have to be addressed locally would be:

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Identify delegated persons who can instigate the School Lockdown; Roles and responsibilities of Admin Staff; Are there nearby partners to advise, e.g. OHSC, ECCE or other businesses; Are phones to be diverted, how and by whom; Can all doors be secured; Lines of communication from Admin to classrooms and other buildings are identified

along with the communication devices in the room including school phones, mobile phones and computers with internet access. The school may wish to develop a policy limiting the use of these devices during a lockdown;

Method of roll checking and accounting for all staff and students; Prepare school maps to be available for Emergency Services; Consider the signals to be used. Timed automatic school bells should be turned off

for the duration of the lockdown if this is feasible; Develop an all clear signal and ensure everyone knows it signals the end of the

Lockdown (or Evacuation); Consider amended actions if this occurs at beginning or end of school when family

and vehicles are in immediate vicinity; Ensure the lockdown procedure is added to the schools Emergency Response Plan

(ERP).

During the development of a lockdown process it is acknowledged that local decision making and local conditions may impact on the ability of schools to adhere to aspects of the guidance provided.

Delegated person

A Principal should delegate the authority to implement a lockdown to other staff members depending on the size of the school, the physical layout of the school and staff work areas. This is also essential to cover absences of the Principal.

Communicating during Lockdowns

Communications play a vital role in the management of Lockdowns. In the Initiation Phase the use of a Lockdown Signal consisting of a tone, siren or sound must be both audible and recognisable as an alert. However the continuous use of a tone, siren or sound may not be the most productive.

It is recommended that the signal for a Lockdown is both a combination of sound and voice using:

Tone/siren/sound alert for 5 secondsUse of words “Lockdown, Lockdown, Lockdown”, Tone/siren/sound alert for 5 seconds.

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10 second silenceTone/siren/sound alert for 5 secondsUse of words “Lockdown, Lockdown, Lockdown”, Tone/siren/sound alert for 5 seconds.

10 second silenceTone/siren/sound alert for 5 secondsUse of words “Lockdown, Lockdown, Lockdown”, Tone/siren/sound alert for 5 seconds.

This should take about 65 seconds by which time the Principal or delegated person should use the PA system, or other available mode, to describe the circumstances, for example:

“This is a Full Lockdown. An incident is occurring within or near the school. The Queensland Police are attending. Remain in secure locations until further directions by Staff or Police”OR“This is a Shelter-in-Place Lockdown. An incident (e.g. a gas leak has

emitted dangerous gases are in the outside air) is occurring at or near the school and Emergency services are attending. Remain in your secure locations until further directions by Staff or Queensland Police.”

Silence then for 60 seconds and replay


Silence then for 60 seconds and replay


…… continue this loop

The PA system should be used at about 5 minute intervals to update staff and students. This information could include the current location/status of the threat or risk if known, however, if it involves a person, then caution should be exercised in disclosing their location unless it is confirmed and such information is of benefit. If the offender’s location is not known, then do not state this over the PA system.

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In the Action Phase when there is an opportunity the Principal may consider the option of communicating with Parents and advising them of the incident utilising the pro-forma templates.

In the Support Phase the Principal must prepare a communication to Parents/Carers outlining a summary of what has occurred.

Modes of Communication

It is recognised that across schools there is not a consistent level of communication hardware and software and that each school will have to consider this in their planning phase. Existing schools may have to adapt the best available form of communication. New schools should have the requisite technology included. The size and geographic layout of schools will also impact on communications. Schools at present may have to consider a range of communication modes such as PA systems, C4T, VOIP based sytems, emails, landline phones, mobile phones, smartphone apps, bullhorns or voice to communicate information during an emergency.

Practicing Lockdowns

At the start of each school year the Lockdown strategy is to be reviewed and then briefed to all staff and students. A copy of the Lockdown Process should be provided to all Teachers and Staff and be included in the ERP. A formal practice Lockdown is to be undertaken as soon as practicable at the start of the school year. A second practice should occur during the year.

The review and practice would benefit from being overviewed by an Assistant Regional Director and/or member of the local Police who may provide valuable feedback.

First Aid Training

Incidents where there are multiple casualties in a community are not unusual, but in places of mass gatherings i.e., schools, the concentration of people can result in multiple victims of events and local medical support may be delayed or not able to handle multiple casualties.

This raises the concept of the ‘bystander responders’ coming from within the school community. People will usually spontaneously help each other and this centres on the caring nature of our community. To support this it is encouraged that each school ensures it has an adequate quota of First Aid qualified teachers and should endeavour to increase their capacity.

Social Media Management

The impact of social media is a shifting variable that is a medium for both controlled and uncontrolled communications. Inaccurate information posted on social media sites can raise public alarm, increase the risk to the school, affect the school reputation and have longer term effects. DET and schools require a capability to monitor, correct, mitigate or alter inaccurate social media dialogue. CEP will monitor and manage Twitter and Facebook data as practicable.

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Debriefing

After the finalisation of a Lockdown, a ‘hot debrief’ should occur with key personnel to capture and record the learnings from their respective areas regarding their actions. The information gathered then should be used to complete the School Incident Alert Notification and be forwarded to the Regional Director by the close of business on that day.

Later a formal Debrief should occur where all aspects of the response should be examined to identify issues and potential improvements to the Lockdown Strategy.

Summary

It is essential that schools prepare and practice their lockdown (and evacuation) procedures to ensure that staff and students are fully conversant with their responsibilities during incidents.

This document should be read in conjunction with Appendix 1 - The Lockdown Process, which summarises roles and responsibilities during a Lockdown.

Whilst this document endeavours to provide a consistent approach for all schools, it is recognised that some local conditions will require adjustments to plans and strategies but such adjustments should only occur where it is reasonably assessed that such adjustments will mitigate the risk to staff and students.

Contact: [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]


APPENDIX 1. The Lockdown Process

Who What

Advise Observing person

Advise Principal/Deputy or Administration Office of situation involving threat or risk.

Decide Principal or delegated person

Decide whether to implement Lockdown of school.

Initiate Principal or delegated person

Lockdown is initiated by sounding the Signal. Call 000 for assistance. Brief School Response Team if practicable and allocate any

tasks. Advise ARD or RD in accordance with Joint DET/QPS

Protocol.

Admin staff Secure Administration Block. Advise any adjacent schools or ECCE Centre Support Principal as required. Identify Classes on excursions and contact supervising

Teacher and advise them not to return until advised by Principal.

Action Principal (and SRT)

Ensure Lockdown signal is transmitted intermittently and PA system used to relay information to staff and students.

Coordinate, if practicable, the checking of toilet blocks for students.

Collate rolls and identify unaccounted for staff or students. Consider communicating with Parents/Carers as soon as

practicable. Coordinate and support police response as practicable.

Teachers Cease outside activities and students are taken to the nearest classroom or other securable room.

Lock classroom doors. Close windows and blinds. Turn lights off.

Check outside your classroom and direct students into classrooms.

Staff not in their own classroom will remain in the building and/or room they are currently in until told it is safe to move.

Check rolls/class lists. Report to Principal if any unaccounted students.

If a Full Lockdown: Lessons stop immediately; Lock classroom doors and barricade; Position students in least visible positions; Prevent any unauthorised persons accessing classrooms.

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Who What

If class or group are not on the school site the teacher should keep the students off-site until an all clear signal is given to return.

Students If outside move to nearest classroom. Lock classroom doors. Remain calm and silent inside classrooms. Follow directions of the teachers. Be out of ‘line of sight’, i.e. under desks or against walls. Do not use mobile phones. Turn any mobile phones to silent. Remain in location until directed by Teachers, Principal or

Police to move.

Resolve Principal or delegated person

On advice from Police that threat has been mitigated sound signal to cease the Lockdown.

Cause contact with all Teachers and classrooms to assess impacts.

Teachers Resume normal educational services as soon as possible.

Support Principal Identify any issues with Staff and Students as a result of the Lockdown and consider OPTUM or other counselling services.

Prepare communication to Parents/Carers to go home with students using prepared templates.

Conduct an informal or ‘Hot Debrief’ with Teachers to identify any key issues for reaction.

Teachers Teachers to identify any students who may require follow-up support. Symptoms may not present immediately.

Students Identify any other students who appear to be suffering ongoing effects from the Lockdown and advise their Teacher.

Report Principal Prepare a School Incident Alert Notification and submit to Regional Office on the same day as the Lockdown.

Later conduct a formal Debrief of the incident and provide an updated School Incident Alert Notification if necessary.

Consider adjusting Lockdown Process when evidence requires.

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