(Sent on behalf of the BME safety committee) Although many of you will not be on campus next week, we wanted you to be aware of a very important drill that will be occurring next Tuesday (March 15). The university will be having a campuswide tornado drill. Although we will not be organizing a formal drill, we would like everyone to stop for a moment and ask yourselves "in the event of a tornado, do I know what to do? Do I know where to go?" A moment's forethought and a little planning can go a long way toward saving lives. So stop, think, and plan for what you would do in the event of a real emergency. (The answer to "where do I go" in MJIS is to the lowest level (basement).) Campuswide tornado drill set for Tuesday (March 15) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University's Emergency Preparedness and Planning Office will offer a campuswide voluntary tornado drill and conduct a test of the Purdue ALERT at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday (March 15). The test is part of the National Weather Service's Severe Weather Preparedness Week (March 13-19), as designated by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb. The National Weather Service, in conjunction with statewide agencies, will test communication systems around the state. As part of Purdue's test, Purdue ALERT will be activated at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday. The layers that will be activated include the All Hazard Outdoor Emergency Warning Sirens (intended to warn those outdoors only), text messaging, Twitter (@purdueemergency), desktop popup alert, alert beacons in some large classrooms, some digital signs and the Boiler TV Emergency Alerting System. The voluntary drill exercise plan can be found on the Emergency Preparedness and Planning website<https://www.purdue.edu/ehps/emergency-preparedness/docs/tornado-drill-explan.pdf>. If severe weather is forecasted that day, the special test will be canceled. To participate in the voluntary drill, building deputies and other building leaders are encouraged to practice and test their building emergency plans by organizing a shelter-in-place drill. Such a drill is designed to ensure that building occupants know what to do in an emergency, ensure that there is adequate space in shelter-in-place locations and test the functionality of weather radios, computers and other communication devices. Purdue is located in the county with the highest number of reported tornado touchdowns in the state, so even if a tornado warning shelter-in-place drill is not possible, building occupants should take a few minutes to review their building emergency plan<https://www.purdue.edu/ehps/emergency-preparedness/emergency-plans/bep/index.php>. They should also familiarize themselves with their building's shelter-in-place locations and review the severe weather tornadoes and thunderstorm procedures published by Purdue's Environmental Health and Public Safety office. Click here<https://www.purdue.edu/ehps/emergency-preparedness/severe-weather-guideance.php> for more information. Individual consultations are available for those interested in organizing a shelter-in-place drill for a building. For questions on the tornado drill or for help organizing a shelter-in-place drill for a building, contact Jefferson Howells, director of campus emergency preparedness and planning, at jfhowells@purdue.edu<mailto:jfhowells@purdue.edu> or 765-494-0446. Contact: Jefferson Howells, 765-494-0446, jfhowells@purdue.edu<mailto:jfhowells@purdue.edu> -- Bmeroundtable-list mailing list Bmeroundtable-list@ecn.purdue.edu https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/mailman/listinfo/bmeroundtable-list