Emergency Notification System (ENS)
What is ENS?
Ensuring the well-being of the members of its community is a priority for the University of Ottawa. A well-designed emergency management program can help save lives during critical situations.
As a result, the University of Ottawa is implementing an Emergency Notification System (ENS) designed to send quick and reliable information with various tools in case of a major emergency on campus.
With this new system, the University community will benefit from:
- quick, reliable communications at the push of a button
- centralized emergency communications through desktop alerts, email notifications and telephone paging (see below)
- targeted messages to specific audiences and areas on our campuses.
When will the ENS be used?
The ENS is reserved for major emergencies, such as a violent aggressor (lockdowns), a major fire or explosion, severe weather, evacuations and other situations where personal safety may be at risk.
How will you be notified in case of emergency?
The ENS uses three tools that communicate simultaneously with thousands of recipients. They are described below.
Desktop Alerts
If you are connected to the uOttawa network (wireless, remote location or to a network jack) at the time of the alert, the emergency message will pop up on your desktop with the following headline: MESSAGE D’URGENCE uOttawa EMERGENCY MESSAGE. To receive emergency notifications, the ENS software must be installed on your computer.
There are two types of alerts:TYPE 1: Emergency / Acknowledgement
In the example below, this pop-up has an <Acknowledge> button. Once you click on the button, the alert disappears.
TYPE 2: Emergency / PC Lockdown (Do not attempt to turn off or disconnect your computer. )
While the emergency alert is displayed, your keyboard and mouse are disabled until restored to its original state by the ENS Administrator. As you can see in the image below, the message indicates that your computer has been locked.
The PC lockdown alert is most likely to be used when you need to take immediate action, such as evacuating your building. While your PC is locked, do not turn it off or disconnect it, because as you start your computer again, the alert will re-appear and stay until it’s disabled by the ENS administrator. Note that this application doesn’t endanger data or documents you may be working on at the time of the alert.
Email Notification
An email notification with the subject line: MESSAGE D’URGENCE UOTTAWA EMERGENCY MESSAGE will be sent to your uOttawa account. The sender’s address will show as Urgence-Emergency@uOttawa.noreply.ca . The message will contain important information about the emergency. To prevent any emergency messages to be sent directly to your Junk Mail folder, make sure you add emails coming from Urgence-Emergency@uOttawa.noreply.ca to your safe sender list.
Phone paging
The phone paging feature will be implemented in the months to come.
Once implemented, in case of emergency, a voice notification goes out to staff members, classrooms and laboratories equipped with speaker phones. The phones have an integrated intercom and act as an internal public address system throughout the campus. Though only certain buildings have these phones right now, the University is working to have them installed campus-wide.