Safety a priority for Ballantine

With nine floors of classrooms and offices, thousands of people travel through Ballantine Hall everyday. But IU students and faculty might not know what to do in an emergency, such as a fire or tornado.\nThat is why action has been taken by 30 faculty members that work in the building, formingthe Ballantine HallSafety Committee. The committee has decided to educate students and faculty by holding a "Safety Week" that runs Monday through Friday.\nKathryn Propst, project coordinator with the IU Teaching and Learning Technologies Centers, founded and heads the committee.\n"We want everyone in the building to know who we are and what to do when there is a tornado or fire alert," she said. "We also want people to know what to do when the (Emergency Medical Service) personnel come."\nThe committee members help when there is an emergency in the building by providing medical assistance and directing evacuations. \nEach floor will have a flier posting the officers for that floor and their credentials, Propst said.\nCommittee member Bob Althauser said he hopes to make students and faculty more aware of Ballantine's safety procedures. Althauser, a sociology professor, said he wants faculty and students to know that tornadoes are something that they have to worry about.\n"(Before the committee was formed) we didn't have any possible way of reaching the classes in session once a tornado warning was sounded," he said. "Now we have a start towards that goal."\nWhen an alarm sounds, a committee member goes to each room on their assigned floor and gives evacuation instructions. \n"One of the greatest problems in Ballantine Hall is that it is virtually impossible to hear the tornado siren," Propst said. \nTo help prevent this problem, many of the faculty have weather radios or weather software to alert them of a tornado. \nPropst said they will have a tornado safety display and informational flyers and handouts. They said they hope to have a mannequin dressed in a green and yellow DayGlo vest. The mannequin will give the students and faculty an idea of what is worn by CPR and First Aid Trained officers in the building in case of an emergency. \nThe Bureau of Facilities Programming and Utilization sets up the evacuation plans for each building on campus. \n"Risk Management (Department) brings a marked-up set of plans, and we produce the plans with the evacuation routes showing," said Tim Hansel, facilities data manager. \nBallantine Hall is the only building with a safety committee.\nPropst and the rest of the committee said they hope the safety week will also help students and faculty during fire alarms.\n"A recurring problem in Ballantine Hall is the clogging of the entries and stairwells during fire alarms," she said. She said when students and faculty make it to the ground floor, they should follow the guidance of the EMS personnel so everything goes smoothly.\nPropst and the committee are also hoping to obtain an Automated External Defibrillator. It is used to restore regular heart palpitations when a person goes into cardiac arrest.\n"Although AEDs are available at several locations on campus, we believe it is important to have a unit in a building as large and as populated as Ballantine Hall," she said. Propst said they are taking many steps to obtain one of these units.\nFor more information about Safety Week, go to the Ballantine Hall Safety Committee Web site at www.indiana.edu/~bhsafety.\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Hopper at chopper@indiana.edu.