Emergency Policy

The Özyeğin University Çekmeköy Campus Facilities aim to ensure that OzU faculty, staff, students, visitors, on-campus businesses/lessees, neighbors, and all affiliated subcontractors and suppliers implement the emergency response procedures and take the right actions in emergency situations to save lives, minimize loss, and ensure business continuity.   As part of its mission and principles, Özyeğin University endeavors to take every necessary action, meet the necessary requirements, and provide all necessary means and resources to prevent, be prepared for, and recover from any emergencies.  Özyeğin University guarantees that it will comply with the effective laws and legislations for emergencies, and improve the performance of its emergency management system through regular controls, tests and drills. 

Özyeğin University senior management guarantees that they will duly fulfill all of the commitments under this policy, take the lead for the installation and continuity of the necessary systems to this end, and ensure quality assurance for all of these processes. 

The “Health & Safety Policy” and the “Environment Policy” are integral parts of the “Emergency Policy”.  

Prevention

Necessary precautions will be planned and implemented by determining all threats that may cause emergency situations, all stages of emergency preparedness (prevention, preparation, response, and post-emergency) and all parties that might be affected within the scope of our risk management system. To ensure robustness and swift recovery, preventive actions will be planned for emergency situations.  The emergency response plan will be prepared in consideration of the vast area of the University campus as well as all types of emergencies that may occur on campus.  To this end, all potential emergency situations will be ranked, and for each ranking, a separate emergency action plan will be put in place.  Subcontractors are liable with adhering to the Özyeğin University Emergency Action Plans when preparing their own emergency action plans for their operations. All members of the university community as well as any relevant party will be encouraged to contribute to the prevention of emergency situations. To that end, academic and administrative staff and students should review their roles and responsibilities, by taking into account global and technological developments, and let the university know of any need for change in the emergency action plans.  

Preparation

Emergency preparedness requires training and education. Therefore, all of the stakeholders of Özyeğin University (faculty, staff, students, visitors, on-campus businesses/lessees, neighbors, affiliated subcontractors and all suppliers, and relevant institutions) are duly informed about the University’s emergency response plans, as well as where to find and how to use emergency response equipment. Emergency aid scenarios will be created for each emergency ranking. Accordingly, the required set of emergency response equipment will be determined. Regular checks are performed to ensure that emergency exits, signage, lighting, and equipment are ready for use.  Furthermore, emergency response, evacuation, and rescue teams are created and provided with the necessary resources and training. In particular, careful attention is paid to meet the needs of groups with special requirements. 

In addition, the performance of the emergency management system is analyzed and improved through regular controls, tests and drills.   Emergency Response The main goal of emergency response is to recover from an emergency situation with minimum damage to human health and the University.  Therefore, emergency teams made up of students, faculty, and staff are responsible for providing accurate and timely information and guidance as well as emergency response and evacuation, where necessary. 

After an emergency situation, all teams must come together to review their performance and look for more effective emergency response methods.  

Post Emergency Recovery and Communication

Business continuity must be maintained, and an effective and accurate information flow must be ensured in the aftermath of any emergency situation at Özyeğin University.  The necessary IT systems and alternative arrangements will be prepared to maintain business continuity. In addition, open and honest relations will be established with all institutions and stakeholders to create a reliable and supportive environment and to ensure effective communication. A chain of communication will be created for each level of emergency in order to provide stakeholders with accurate, timely, and clear information. 

Monitoring and Improvement of Emergency Management Performance Özyeğin University develops and monitors key performance indicators to keep track of and improve the performance of its emergency management system in order to increase its effectiveness and efficiency in emergency management. To that end, due care is shown to identify objective and guiding key performance indicators. Emergency drills test the effectiveness of the emergency action plans in order to identify any areas for improvement. Based on these drills, the necessary improvements are then incorporated into the emergency action plans.  

Reviews and Audits Compliance with the rules in place is systematically reviewed and audited. Such reviews and audits are conducted by the authorized staff, and the results are objectively recorded and evaluated. Following the reviews and audits, the necessary actions are taken with due diligence to resolve any identified issues or to achieve the set goals.