Emergency mobile app helps keep you safe on campus

It is crucial that information is received quickly in the event of an emergency situation on campus. Receiving alerts and timely updates on emergency situations can save lives and prevent injury. The UC Emergency Mobile app is an important service to keep you safe on campus and now there is a new UC Emergency Mobile app powered by Alertus available for students, faculty and staff.

“We’re excited to be rolling out a new and improved app with a number of important features to help keep the campus community safe,” explains Linda Dalgetty, vice-president, finance and services. “I’d encourage all students, faculty and staff to download it today.”

In addition to providing a better overall experience, the new UC Emergency Mobile app has a number of important features:

• Report incidents, including fire, medical emergencies, suspicious person or an active shooter at the touch of a button. For imminent, life-threatening situations, call 911.
• A contact button to help you reach Campus Security by telephone quickly and easily.
• Alerts that will keep you up-to-date on incidents. Notifications will advise you when new alerts are posted.
• Ability to discreetly request help on campus if you are feeling uncomfortable and do not want to draw attention to yourself.

In addition to downloading the new app, those with the old app are encouraged to delete it by following instructions available on the Risk website.

Download is easy

Full download instructions are available on the Risk website for students, faculty and staff. Remember to enable push notifications as you login, or in your settings under “Apps”, to allow the university to send you alerts in the event of an emergency on campus. Details are provided in the instruction guide.

You are also encouraged to enable location services in the app and include your phone number in your profile, as these actions help Campus Security reach you in an emergency. You can update your profile by going to your settings in the app. You can enable location services when you login for the first time or by managing your app permissions in your device settings. This information is not used to track app users — it’s simply to help individuals in the case of an emergency.

The University of Calgary is committed to creating a safe and healthy environment. In addition to the UC Emergency Mobile app, the UC Emergency Alert system uses a number of different communication channels to ensure important messaging can reach students, faculty, and staff during an emergency situation at UCalgary. Emergency Management is also integrating many of its systems to help deliver emergency messages more quickly.

Channels include:

• UC Emergency Desktop: The desktop alert notifies students, faculty and staff in the event of an emergency on campus.
• Twitter: Regular updates about campus incidents will be shared on @UCalgary, the institutional UCalgary Twitter account.
• Web updates: information regarding emergency situations will be posted on the UCalgary homepage, Campus Security alert page, and the UC emergency alert page.
• Physical bulletin boards: Security alerts are posted on specific Campus Security bulletin boards throughout campus, when possible.
• Mass notification system: Many buildings are equipped with a mass notification system to alert those on campus about emergencies.
•  Security alerts: Non-urgent safety information shared via email to all campus community members with an @ucalgary.ca address.

Learn more about the new UC Emergency Mobile app, including frequently asked questions.