NIMS Activity 17: Apply standardized and consistent terminology

K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) apply and use common and consistent terminology for school and campus incidents, including the establishment of plain language communication standards.

COMMUNICATION & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Activity 17: Apply standardized and consistent terminology for school and campus incidents, including the establishment of plain language communication standards across the public safety sector.

K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) apply and use common and consistent terminology for school and campus incidents, including the establishment of plain language communication standards.

Association to NIMS

Effective communications, information management, and information- and intelligence-sharing are critical aspects of emergency response and emergency management. The ability of emergency management/response personnel from different disciplines, jurisdictions, organizations, and agencies to work together depends greatly on their ability to communicate with each other. Common terminology enables emergency management/response personnel to communicate clearly with one another and effectively coordinate activities, no matter the size, scope, location, or complexity of the incident. To support this, NIMS emphasizes the importance of using plain language to ensure that incident response commands can be easily understood by all.

Communications and information management is reciprocal and requires all partners to speak the same language and use the terminology. When operating in a multi-discipline and multi-jurisdictional setting, using a common language among entities will help to alleviate confusion and miscommunication. This includes both verbal communication and communication equipment.

Implementation Guidance

To support the implementation of NIMS and to ensure effective multi-agency responses, schools and IHEs should use plain language known and understood by all-educational staff (including new personnel, substitutes and volunteers), first responders, and all other community partners. Furthermore, schools and IHEs should establish a common language that is consistent with the language used by their community partners. Schools, IHEs, local emergency management, law enforcement, emergency medical services, fire department, and public health personnel all need to become familiar with a common set of terminology based on plain language. Plain language will bridge the cultural and technical gaps between partners.

When groups use code words to communicate information during an emergency, they are only effective if all partners agree to their meaning and everyone is trained in the system and is able to remember the codes under duress - new staff, new students, substitutes, new community members, new first response partners, etc. For example, if a district uses terminology such as -Code Red- to indicate a lockdown, a new student or a substitute teacher who is new to the school or to the district may not know what this code means and may not be trained on the required response procedures. Furthermore, everyone would have to be able to recall and process codes. This may be a challenge for many people during an emergency. Instead, if the word -lockdown- is used, and if response instructions are given, new or temporary staff will have more information and are likely to respond more effectively, ensuring the safety of the entire school community.

Sample K-12 activities demonstrating that K-12 schools and IHEs are placing an emphasis on using standard and consistent language based on plain language include: