Primer to Design Safe School Projects in Case of Terrorist Attacks and School Shootings. Buildings and Infrastructure Protection Series. FEMA-428/BIPS-07/January 2012. Edition 2. US Department of Homeland Security.
Criteria: Department of Homeland Security publication, high level of expertise, comprehensiveness
Key Takeaways: This comprehensive Homeland Security report offers invaluable insights for educators, recognizing the complexities of diverse school environments while maintaining a focus on constructing safe infrastructure. Structured across five chapters, the report discusses risk assessment methodologies, intricacies of architectural and engineering designs for protection, and proposes practical preventative measures addressing school shootings, blast effects, and toxic releases. This accessible guide empowers school leaders with a wealth of knowledge to promote safety, balance various design considerations, and proactively respond to potential threats.
Summary and Insights: This technical report is indeed a comprehensive primer for the design community and school leaders. While many elements are known to school leaders, this primer provides a comprehensive integration of the extensive knowledge base on providing safe school infrastructure. The authors recognize that school facilities vary greatly based on the time period in which they were built, rural, suburban, and urban settings, and socioeconomic and cultural factors. They acknowledge the challenge of providing safe school infrastructure while meeting the needs of different users, constituencies, community infrastructures, and the regulatory environment.
Strengths of this report include its balanced perspective throughout and recognizing the tensions that can arise between the elements of optimal safety infrastructure design and other approaches such as Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. It also considers cost effectiveness.
The report is organized into five chapters and includes extensive figures and appendices. A brief description of each chapter follows:
Chapter 1: Experienced school leaders know the importance of needs assessment in any major initiative and this primer begins with the importance of risk assessment and provides both a roadmap and the toolkit to do so. The authors provide two methodologies for schools to employ for risk assessment.
Chapter 2: The focus is on key architectural and engineering design components related to protection and provides meaningful information on topography, building orientation, building configuration, access and control among other considerations. It provides context and insight into the limitation of historical designs. As throughout the report, pictures and figures are helpful.
Chapter 3: This chapter addresses school shootings and may be a difficult read. It describes specific school shootings and notes the vulnerabilities that were present. Based on the extensive study of school shootings as highlighted in these case studies, the authors propose protective measures. While many of the readers will be familiar with aspects of these measures, there is much to be learned.
Chapter 4: The focus is on blast effects and identifies potential damages, loss of life, and protective measures that can be implemented.
Chapter 5: This chapter addresses the issue of toxic releases which can occur through aggressor actions and accidents. It provides general information and protective measures through architectural, engineering, and electrical features whether in new construction or retrofitting.
In closing, this report is comprehensive, highly readable, and has a wealth of meaningful information and guidance.
Resource: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED541448
Authors:
Chipley, M., Lyon, W., Smilowitz, R., Williams, P., Arnold, C., Blewett, W., … & Krimgold, F. (2012).
Year: 2012