Building Resilience Across Every Stage of an Emergency

School safety can’t be achieved by focusing on one stage of an emergency. True readiness comes from understanding and connecting all four phases of emergency management; prevention, preparation, response, and recovery. When schools isolate one piece of the process, they miss the broader system that keeps students and staff truly safe.

Seeing Beyond a Single Problem

Safety challenges are rarely isolated events. They’re the result of overlapping human behaviors, community influences, and unpredictable circumstances. While prevention is critical, no plan is perfect. Acknowledging that there will always be a potential failure point allows schools to design systems that reduce harm, even when something goes wrong.

Simplifying Safety Through Categories

Many schools try to plan for every specific scenario, but that approach quickly becomes overwhelming. Instead, safety planning should start by identifying major hazard categories, violence, hazardous materials, weather, and accidents, and aligning each with a clear protective action such as lockdown, secure, shelter, evacuate, or hold.

This structure provides clarity during high-pressure situations and gives staff the confidence to act quickly.

The Core Objectives of Every Response

Every emergency, no matter the cause, should be guided by three objectives:

Stop the immediate threat.
Save those who are injured.
Begin recovery for people, property, and operations.

When every action aligns with these goals, schools can respond decisively and reduce both physical and emotional impacts.

Acting Before the Crisis

Effective safety begins before a critical incident occurs. Schools should establish clear pre-event thresholds, points at which staff are empowered to act based on warning signs rather than waiting for confirmation of danger. By identifying potential threats early, schools can move their response “to the left of bang” and prevent incidents from escalating.

Creating a Culture of Awareness

Prevention depends on vigilance. An open door, concerning behavior, or unverified threat should always trigger communication, collaboration, and swift assessment. When staff understand how and when to act, they become the most valuable line of defense in maintaining a safe environment.