Emergency response at UBC

Metro Vancouver has the legislative mandate to protect the safety and well-being of all Electoral Area A residents through emergency preparedness and planning. Under the authority of Metro Vancouver’s Electoral Area A Emergency Response Plan, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has developed its own Emergency Plan for the campus.

Emergency Management at UBC is led by Safety & Risk Services, in close collaboration with faculties and departments across campus.

Our approach

The Emergency Management team oversees a comprehensive program designed to safeguard students, faculty, staff, visitors, and the University Neighbourhood Association. UBC follows the British Columbia Emergency Management System (BCEMS), which ensures a coordinated and organized approach to emergency response and recovery.

Our goal is a fully integrated emergency management system from leadership to individual community members, focused on minimizing risk and ensuring a rapid, effective response.

What this means

• Preparedness: Training and planning so everyone knows what to do in an emergency.
• Coordinated Response: Activation of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to lead an efficient and collaborative campus-wide response.
• Recovery: Enabling the university to resume operations as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Emergency response at UBC

UBC has response structures and processes in place to manage all types of emergencies. Built upon the elements of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, UBC has developed and maintained an emergency management program based on the British Columbia Emergency Management System (BCEMS), a recognized standard system for emergency response across British Columbia.

UBC’s response structure

UBC’s response structure is a three-tiered system:

1. Incident Response (Incident Command) at the scene or Department Operations Centres to manage the incident locally
2. An Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate at an organizational level, and
3. A Crisis Management Team comprised of UBC’s President and UBC Executives to make policy-level decisions.

When an incident happens on campus, UBC departments will respond in coordination with first responders like police, fire and ambulance.

Emergency Operations Centre

An Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) is a group of experienced and trained campus leaders and subject matter experts that come together to manage the response to an event that has significantly strained or overwhelmed regular operations. An EOC involves responders from the site of the incident (i.e. UBC), but may also require coordination with multiple external responders or agencies.

For more information on UBC’s Response Structures and the Emergency Operations Centre, visit Emergency planning and mitigation.

UBC regularly holds emergency training exercises to better position individuals and the institution for real emergencies. These sessions are aligned with recognized campus hazards and are meant to allow responders to practice and problem solve coordination issues and challenges. UBC also participates in regional emergency management planning initiatives to make sure UBC is aligned with emergency plans across the region.

Learn more about emergency training