• An evacuation of the building may be necessary for any number of reasons: for example, fire, chemical spill, gas leak, bomb threat, flood, general and prolonged loss of power, water contamination, violent intrusion.
• If an alarm sounds, it may be followed, if possible, by an announcement confirming an emergency situation, and possibly, the nature of the emergency. “If possible” because it must be understood that when police and/or fire departments intervene, they and only they can determine our course of action (to pull the alarm, or to make an announcement).

There are two parts to any evacuation

1. The evacuation itself

• The first most important things for students to know is that they must follow instructions given by teachers in classrooms to leave the building.
• The second is, to heed the advice of floor and wing monitors to safely and correctly evacuate the building.

2. The seeking of shelter in a safe location

• Students, faculty and staff, without exception, must make their way to Place Alexis Nihon in an orderly fashion via the exits doors and gates as instructed by the monitors inside and outside of the building.
• If Place Alexis Nihon is deemed not to be a safe location, they are to make their way to Concordia’s Sir George Williams campus downtown. These instructions will be clearly communicated on the street during a real emergency.
• Once inside Place Alexis Nihon, all are to await instructions for returning to the College. These instructions may be to return immediately, or to advise that the College has suspended activities until further notice.
• The Dawson website homepage will be used to inform the College community of any delay over an hour to re-entry with instructions on how to proceed if the delay is prolonged.

Evenings & Weekends Protocol

During evenings and weekends, the same protocol applies, however in view of a fewer number of people in the building, and an absence of designated floor and wing monitors, Security, teachers and evening staff will have a greater role to play in the evacuation. Each term, a review of the procedures will be conducted with the personnel involved.

People with limited mobility

For those with limited mobility, arrangements are made with the Student AccessAbility Centre to ensure the safe evacuation of students in its care; employees with mobility issues will be met with regularly, at least once per term, to fine-tune procedures both for exercises and in the event of a real emergency evacuation.

Persons requiring assistance to evacuate should position themselves in front of an elevator/camera; qualified personnel will arrive shortly to complete the evacuation safely.