Bomb Threat Procedures
Our area experienced two school-related bomb threat incidents yesterday; one at a high school and one at a community college. Today we’ve been discussing how viable our emergency response procedure is for bomb threats. We borrowed our procedures from UVa’s Critical Incident Management procedure for handling a bomb threat that is received by telephone, and it involves filling out a form while on the phone with the caller before reporting the incident to the authorities. Does anyone have experience in dealing with bomb threats? Also, does anyone else have a bomb-threat checklist that they are required to complete? Here’s our current procedure:
- if you receive a bomb threat over the telephone, remain calm, and refer to the Telephone Checklist for Bomb Threats (following this page)
- try to elicit and compile as much information as possible
- do not try to immediately notify others or evacuate the building, rather focus on trying to gather as much information as possible
- if applicable, check the display on your phone and note the number given for the incoming call
- try to keep the caller on the line as long as possible; do not anger the caller
- while engaging the caller, pay attention to any background noise and distinctive sounds (machinery, traffic, other voices, music, television, etc.)
- note any characteristics of the caller’s voice (gender, age, education, accent, etc.)
- immediately after the caller has ended the call, notify the UVa police at 911.
- if the threat was left on your voice mail, do not erase.
- be aware that should a bomb threat be received in writing, the fewest number of people possible should handle the paper, which should be given to the police.
- if a bomb threat is received by email, it should be saved on the computer of the person who receives it
- notify the Library’s ERC, as well as your department supervisor.
- if the authorities order an evacuation, follow established Evacuation procedures (see second section of this manual)
