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Safety & Security PREPARE AND BE AWARE SafeCampus When the University of Washington in Seattle started eyeing a mass notifi cation system for its campus, University offi cials knew they were facing a big job. BY SCOTT BERMAN F EDERAL REQUIREMENTS for timely emergency notifi cation and National Fire Protection As- sociation codes and standards (NFPA-72, 2010 edition) are directing safety efforts on campuses nationwide, with NFPA-72 itself providing code language on emer- gency communication systems and their operation and supervision. The University of Washington's goal was emergency mass notifi cation, with a comprehensive system providing timely communication campus- wide. That's about 150 buildings of varying types, sizes, and ages. The short story is that UW brought in a three-pronged team of consultants: EHS Design, for project management and archi- tectural design; Rolf Jensen and Associates (RJA), which handled mass notifi cation compliance; and Sparling, for electrical engineering. The end result: a system with audible and visual notifi cation that was completed and installed in March 2012, according to Curtis Bales, director of EHS Design. It was a major undertaking — he says it took "nearly two years from start of design through construction close-out." The project cost about $8M. Construc- tion took the lion's share, $5.5M, with $3M of that "for fi re alarm and mass notifi ca- tion equipment, which was procured and installed under contracts direct to UW," and design and engineering costs coming in at $2.5M, Bales recounts. The Starting Point Now, for the backstory: the process started at least eight years ago. The old fi re alarm monitoring system functioned well and was maintained well, but was outmoded and lacked capacity for growth — "we're SPREAD THE WORD. Teamwork was the order of the day when the University of Washington in Seattle implemented a mass notifi cation system to upgrade and unite their existing systems and improve campus safety. By thinking comprehen- sively and working cooperatively across departments and functions, the result is a safer environment for everyone. talking almost telegraph technology," and needed to be replaced, says Mark D. Murray, UW's assistant director of Environmental Health and Safety. University offi cials got busy. Several traveled to other campuses, including Harvard University and the Miami Univer- sity in Oxford, OH, to see their solutions, according to Murray, who was one of the platooning quarterbacks for the initiative. "That was the fi rst step," Murray recalls, "then we asked, 'How are we going to pay for this?'" Basic question. Complex answer. The fi rst attempt to secure funding from the Washington State Legislature failed — so campus offi cials went back to the drawing board with an eye on the Legislature's next funding cycle two years later. The plan changed in at least two key ways. 32 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / NOVEMBER 2012 The fi rst change: a fi ber optics link be- tween fi re alarm panels for the centralized, University-owned system by SimplexGrin- nell that took the proposed replacement system from monitoring to broadcasting voice messages and other remote func- tions, according to Murray. The other change: capturing in a name the essence of what the University envi- sioned: hence, the term "SafeCampus." It helped University personnel to advocate for the plan, and state lawmakers to get a fast handle on what was being proposed. Approved and Underway The state approved the funding in 2009, with the stipulation that it must be spent within two years. UW was off and running. Picture a track relay team, in this instance consisting of Facility Services, WWW.PLANNING4EDUCATION.COM PHOTO COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON