SA0200 – Emergency Management

SECTION 1. Policy Statement

1. Overview
   1. Emergency preparedness and planning are essential activities which facilitate optimizing the safety and security of each University campus and institute.
   2. This policy sets forth the University’s requirements for emergency management, which includes contingency planning.
2. Emergency Service Coordinator
   1. Tennessee law requires the University’s president, or designee, to designate one or more people to serve as the University’s emergency services coordinator, and one or more alternate emergency services coordinator. T.C.A. § 58-2-108(a).
   2. The University’s president, or designee, must inform TEMA in writing if the University’s emergency services coordinator or alternate emergency services coordinators change.
   3. The University’s emergency services coordinator will be responsible for coordinating with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and for fulfilling other duties required by state law or regulations, in addition to other duties that the University might assign.
3. Emergency Management Plans
   1. Each campus and institute must maintain a comprehensive emergency management plan that meets federal and state requirements. The University uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG 101), the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency’s (TEMA) plan template, and the Emergency Management Accreditation Program’s (EMAP) standards as guidelines for emergency management plans.
   2. University locations not geographically located on campus are not required to maintain an independent emergency management plan, but must maintain emergency procedures, which, at a minimum, include evacuation, shelter-in-place, active shooter, and accountability procedures.
   3. Each campus/institute must develop and maintain emergency action plans for each building (such plans will be referred to as Building Emergency Action Plans, or BEAP) to address evacuation and sheltering of occupants during emergencies.
   4. Each campus and institute is responsible for providing the designated UT System emergency manager with an up-to-date copy of their plan.
   5. The Institute for Public Service (IPS), UT Foundation (UTFI), Tennessee Research and Education Centers, 4-H Centers, and all 95 county UT Extension offices must prepare emergency procedures for their facilities as well as an emergency communication plan to ensure timely notification of an event to the UT System office. Those emergency procedures must address their specified tasks in the emergency support functions of the TEMA plan and must be provided annually to the UT System office. The UT Space Institute in Tullahoma and the Institute of Agriculture physical campus in Knoxville are covered under the UTK emergency management plan.
4. Continuity of Operations Plan
   1. Each campus and institute must develop and maintain a continuity plan to include essential functions, essential records, IT functions, human resources, communications, alternate locations and remote work, budget and acquisition, reconstitution, testing, training, and exercising and leadership succession to ensure capabilities can continue in the event of an emergency.
   2. Minimum standards, roles, responsibilities and training are provided in the procedures document.
   3. Each campus and institute must review their continuity plans at least once every 3 years. Campuses might need to update their respective continuity plan more frequently to account for changes, such as any immediate changes in roles and responsibilities.
   4. At the discretion of the Office of Audit & Compliance, the plan will be reviewed externally at each campus every 5 years.
5. Intra-University Emergency Coordination Plan
   1. The University of Tennessee System Office is responsible for developing and maintaining an emergency coordination plan that outlines how the System Office, as well as other campuses within the UT System, will coordinate to assist in response efforts on a UT campus or campuses if needed.
   2. UT System will coordinate with all UT campuses to collaborate on the intra-University emergency coordination plan.
6. Emergency Operations Center
   1. Each campus and institute must designate a space for an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) so that personnel can gather in the event of a campus emergency. The space must be properly equipped with all services necessary for multiagency coordination.
   2. Each campus and institute must also designate a back-up location to serve as the EOC, if the originally designated space is unavailable.
7. Designated Officials
   1. Each campus and institute is responsible for designating a campus emergency manager to ensure emergency management responsibilities are fulfilled as described in the procedures.
   2. Each campus and institute is responsible for designating a campus continuity manager to ensure continuity plans are completed in alignment with the system continuity plan template and continuity responsibilities are fulfilled as described in the procedures.

SECTION 2. Reason for the Policy

This policy establishes the University’s requirements related to emergency planning, including continuity planning.

SECTION 3. Scope and Application

This policy applies to all University employees.

SECTION 4. Procedures

SECTION 5. Definitions

N/A

SECTION 6. Penalties/Disciplinary Action for Non-Compliance

Non-compliance might result in adverse human resources actions, up to and including termination.

SECTION 7. Responsible Official & Additional Contacts

Responsible Official & Additional Contacts

bject Matter	Office Name	Name of Contact	hone Number	Email
olicy Official	UT System	Mike Gregory	865-974-5028	Mike.gregory@tennessee.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Knoxville	Brian Gard	865-974-9347	Bgard1@utk.edu
Policy Clarification	T Chattanooga	Brett Fuchs	423-779-2237	Brett-fuchs@utc.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Martin	Charles Jahr	731-881-7583	cjahr@utm.edu
Policy Clarification	Health Science Center	Tim Barton	901-586-7871	tbarton@uthsc.edu
Policy Clarification	UT Southern	Dan Scherr and Richard Schoeberl	1-931-363-9871 -931-424-2022	dscherr@utsouthern.edu hoebe@utsouthern.edu
Policy Clarification	titute for Public Service	Tomi Rogers	803-466-0787	tomi.rogers@tennessee.edu
Policy Clarification	UTIA	Doug Bohner	865-974-8915	dbohner@utk.edu
Policy Clarification	Space Institute	ck VanZandbergen	931-393-7156	nvanzand@utsi.edu

SECTION 8. Policy History

List the history of any prior revisions of the policy or whether this policy replaces an existing policy. The forma below is merely a guide.

Revision 3: 11/19/2025

Revision 2: 1/10/2023

Revision 1: 10/01/2017