The thesis was carried out for Eira High School for Adults, as they needed a security plan for their new premises in Helsinki. The thesis was carried out for Eira Gymnasium for Adults later and referred to as Eira.
Background information
The security plan cannot be disclosed as the client only wanted it for their internal use as the thesis describes the process and phases of creating and developing the security plan for Eira High School for Adults' new premises on Iso Roobertinkatu, Helsinki , the collection of data, the feedback from the client, a description of the professional development, conclusion and findings. In addition, Eira High School for Adults offers English education leading to the AICE Diploma recognized by Cambridge University and basic education for adults in Finnish.
Theoretical background
The purpose and objective of the thesis
The objective was to create a safety plan in the new high school premises to raise Eira. By becoming familiar with the safety plan over the summer and early fall, it could be presented to staff as soon as possible at the beginning of the semester, should changes be needed.
Key concepts
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2011) the security plan is a document that includes the overall security planning of the building or target premises. The security plan is based on risk assessment and identification and the goal is to prepare for identified and assessed risks.
Private school’s funding
A safety plan can replace an emergency plan which is a mandatory document for the owners of the building or site regulated by Rescue Act 379/2011. Because of the foundation's resources, as well as the semester payments and statutory government transfer, the private school has more resources than the public school.
Familiarising with the other premises plan
Interviews
Observation
For example, it can be noted which floors have the most students during breaks, which means among other things that the floors are more difficult to evacuate in emergency situations, and that Eira has many foreign students who are usually among other foreign students, which highlights the importance of the English security plan as all the students as well as employees are not able to understand Finnish well enough as they are not native Finns or do not understand Finnish.
Familiarising with the legislation
The emergency plan should include all the measures described in section 14 and it should be behavior towards buildings and places which are remarkably demanding in terms of rescue and safety operations, damage caused by an accident or where the risk of fire safety, safety of personnel or risk to cultural properties and the environment can be considered serious. The emergency plan should contain detailed information on the conclusion of the risk and hazard assessment, instructions to the occupant of the building on how to prevent accidents and what to do in dangerous situations and accident situations, the building's safety measures and other precautions related to self-preparedness. Self-preparedness is included in the security plan, as the security plan is structured according to the rescue act 379/2011.
Prevention of accidents and emergency situations plays an equally important role as instructions and directions in case these situations occur. A security plan is created and developed to be as broad and specific as possible, regardless. The laws and regulations in the table are in English and Finnish because some cannot be found in English and because the safety plan for all staff of Eira High School is for adults and most of the staff familiar with the plan are Finnish and can understand the laws in Finnish.
For English-speaking staff, laws and regulations can be translated if necessary, and as they have been trained as teachers, they also know the basics of education laws.
Other sources
Contact information
The principal should be the leader of the crisis team, because in the crisis situation the principal is the key person in charge of the operations. The operations of the crisis team include, for example: preparation of a written crisis plan for the school, clarification of important partners, registration of internal tasks and responsibilities, organization of operations in crisis situations, provision of the necessary emotional support, such as as well as possible further efforts and maintenance of crisis preparedness by arranging training and briefings for the entire staff annually and having orientation for new employees.
Emergency exits and evacuation routes
Emergency exits and evacuation routes are marked with red arrows in the client's project on the planning image, so that they can be illustrated to all employees. According to Oxford Dictionaries (2014), photographic memory is “the ability to remember information or visual images in great detail,” meaning that some people learn and remember information easily after seeing information in a picture or other visual form. With all emergency exits and evacuation routes in pictorial and textual form, staff remember emergency exits and evacuation routes more effectively, as well as more efficiently.
Since emergency exits are in pictorial form, misunderstandings can also be avoided that may arise if emergency exits and evacuation routes are only in written form.
Assembly areas
Standard time security of the school
Emergency instructions
Then the person receiving the call must notify the Emergency Response Center by dialing emergency number 112 and informing the organization's crisis team. The measures and instructions received from the emergency response center and the crisis team must be followed. In serious and urgent cases, the entire building will be evacuated immediately and must be moved to the assembly area, as agreed in advance on the instructions for bomb threats.
After collecting at the collection area, follow the instructions received at the collection area.
Internal security screening
Matriculation Examination Board guidelines
The guidelines were collected from the Matriculation Examination Board website and from the existing guidelines that Eira High School for Adults had. Passing the entrance examination entitles the candidate to continue his or her studies at the university. According to the Entrance Examination Board (Ohje sähköisen ylioppilaskokeen koetilojen sähkösuunnitteluun 2013), the first electronic entrance exam will be held in autumn 2016 and the transition period to the electronic exam will end in spring 2019.
For the client it is important to be prepared for the new electronic matric examination and by including a summary of the instructions in the security plan, the instructions can be easily found and all employees can identify those instructions. The guidelines have been created for students to have as safe and minimum disruption matriculation exam as possible. On the other hand, it is important for the client to have instructions in case of disruption during the matric exam.
These instructions are important for Eira High School and especially for matriculation exam monitors, since monitors are aware of the instructions on how to act in an emergency situation, the safety of the students and the matriculation exam can be guaranteed.
Evacuation training and implementation of the security plan
As mentioned on the website of the Matriculation Examination Board (The Finland Matriculation . exam n.d) "the purpose of the exam is to find out whether students have acquired the knowledge and skills required by the curriculum for upper secondary school and whether they have achieved a adequate level of maturity consistent with the goals of that school. Evacuation training includes emergency evacuation, evacuation of premises and assembly area meeting and discussion of reactions with personnel. The main purpose of the feedback discussion is to detect errors and potential problems, such as problems with evacuation routes or emptying classrooms.
The issues and development objects are implemented in sequence according to the planned schedule. The security plan's implementation practices include, among other things, information on how often the security plan must be introduced to the staff, and how often and in what manner. The safety plan will be implemented and trained to staff after the management team has become familiar with it and after all necessary changes have been implemented.
The plan will be trained for staff at the beginning of the academic year and if major changes are made.
Translating the quick reference guidelines to crisis in English
The process of creating and developing the security plan was time consuming, educational and interesting. The starting point of this thesis was to meet the need to create a safety plan for the new premises of Eira High School for Adults. In the beginning it was necessary to familiarize yourself with the security plan of the Eira High School for Adults Laivurinkatu buildings, to assess its functionality and to complete and update the missing parts, such as the legislative chapter.
After the information collection and knowledge of the other premises' security plan as well as the legislation regarding the security plan, the security plan for the ISO is created. A student from Laurea University of Applied Sciences Niina Virolainen prepared as her thesis a security plan for Eira High School for Adults' new premises on Iso Roobertinkatu. In her work, Niina Virolainen initially introduced the security plan for the Eira High School for Adults Laivurinkatu premises.
During the security plan, the project was taught about the Finnish legislation regarding basic and upper secondary education, as well as the legislation regarding security and safety. During the creation and development of the security plan, Eira High School for Adults was taught to work independently on the project and to understand how to communicate with the necessary persons such as the vice-principal, principal and service manager. By holding meetings and touring the Iso Roobertinkatu premises, it was possible to share and compare opinions between me and the client, to discuss the content and required information of the security plan and familiarize with the premises.
