March 3, 2011
Emergency notification system to undergo routine testing March 7
Submitted by Erinn Barcomb-Peterson
At about 10:15 a.m. Monday, March 7, Kansas State University will conduct a test of K-State Alerts, the university's emergency notification system.
Emergency notification channels to be tested include: text messaging, automated phone calls, e-mail to all K-State accounts and the new alert beacons in various buildings across the Manhattan campus. The tornado sirens with voice communications and public address system in the carillon atop Anderson Hall will also be tested.
Alert beacons in the lobbies of the Salina campus residence halls also will be tested.
K-State officials now have the ability to post emergency information directly to the university's home page. This feature will be included in the testing.
K-State Alerts is used when a dangerous condition exists on any of K-State’s campuses.
Steve Galitzer, director of environmental health and safety at K-State, said that K-State Alerts is tested twice a year to ensure that it will work during an actual emergency.
During the test, text messages, automated phone calls and e-mails will be sent out. In addition, the wall-mounted alert beacons will emit a loud siren, flash strobe lights and provide digital scrolling text for two full minutes. They can't be turned off during the test.
To sign up to receive emergency notifications by text message or an automated phone call, students, faculty and staff with active K-State eIDs must enroll in K-State Alerts through the eProfile system. Eligible K-Staters can add contact information of parents, children and spouses when they sign up. The eProfile system is available at http://eid.k-state.edu.
With text messages, factors such as service provider, coverage area and total load on local communication towers can impact when and if users receive text messages.
Those who already subscribe to text message and automated phone calls won't need to re-register, but officials recommend checking the Web site to make sure K-State has current phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
Individuals who sign up for the service and don't receive the test alert or any other alerts should contact K-State's IT Help Desk at 800-865-6143 or 785-532-7722. Users are responsible for any messaging charges from their phone service providers and for keeping their emergency contact information up to date.
More information is available at http://www.k-state.edu/safety/alerts.