When you travel on college-sponsored trips, Madison College employees take on the legal and moral responsibility of giving your health and safety utmost priority.

It is important that you and your parents, family, and other loved ones know that policies and procedures are in place to provide the safest possible environments for you.  

Despite every precaution, accidents and catastrophic events can happen. These guidelines provide a solid foundation of safety measures and standardized protocol for communication and action should emergencies arise. 

Preparation 

Before departure, the faculty or staff leading your trip is required to submit a copy of the following forms to the Student Life Office. They must also take a copy of the forms and Crisis Management Plan on the trip: 

  • Code of Conduct 
  • Emergency Information 
  • Emergency Resource Card 
  • Itinerary 
  • Participant List 
  • Waiver of Liability

Critical Emergency Situation 

For all emergencies, our staff plan to follow these action steps: 

  1. Contact the local police, medical, or other assistance needed to protect the health and safety of all students and participants. Once all participants are safe to the extent possible, Madison College Crisis Staff will be contacted.
  2. Without centralized communication, conflicting or sensationalistic reports to family or media could unnecessarily alarm family or others or open the college to litigation or embarrassment. Students are cautioned not to speak with the media and asked to avoid causing unneeded alarm or misrepresenting the situation in any communication home regarding the incident. 
  3. Chronological logs are to be kept of any crisis, documenting what happened, what steps were taken, when they were taken, who was contacted, and what follow-up actions were necessary. Log records should document both the time that events and actions occurred as well as when log notations were entered. 
  4. Upon return to Campus, staff will complete a full report of the incident using the Student Care Team Referral form. Staff will send a copy of the report to the Student Life Director. 

Crisis Management Decision Making

For all crises, we will use the following decision making steps:

  1. Convene all Madison College personnel at the location of the incident. Do not wait until a crisis has escalated and do not try to handle the situation yourself. 
  2. Gather information as accurately and timely as possible. Not every detail will be available but gather enough to determine the magnitude of the issue. Define the boundaries of confidentiality. 
  3. Decide whether to escalate the issue. Ideally, there is a pre-determined threshold for launching into crisis mode. Generally, if the threat has, or could lead to significant harm to the student(s), club, or college itself, it is worth escalating. 
  4. Engage external partners. If the incident warrants external partners such as the police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Safety Transportation Board, or other regulatory agencies, reach out to identify a point of contact and open the lines of communication. These Madison College representatives should be contacted: Director of Student Life, Clubs Coordinator, and Public Safety. 
  5. Follow appropriate/additional steps based on the situation. 
  6. Record and learn. Once the situation resumes normal, be sure to gather the team involved for an after-action discussion. Every incident is an opportunity to practice the response process and identify areas that need improvement. 

These steps were adapted from Decision Making in Times of Crisis, Strawser, 2017, and 7 Steps of Crisis Management, 2014. 

Response to Crisis Situations

Crisis situations can differ greatly, as do the appropriate action steps to take. Our plans for handling various crises are listed below.