In the case of a severe storm, students shall be kept safely indoors and staff will, on a regular basis, take a head count to ensure that all students are present and accounted for.

In the event of severe weather, staff will remain on duty until driving is again possible and a change of shift can be effected. Staff will not be allowed to leave until they are replaced.

In the event of a power outage of any duration, in any Hillcrest building or location:

1) Call IT Dept.  immediately @ 413-499-0607 between the hours of 7:30 am – 5:30 pm or 413-266-1124 outside of regular business hours.

2) During the day shift (7 am-3 pm), Monday through Friday, also contact the maintenance person assigned to your work site.

If the power outage lasts more than 15 minutes, regardless of the time of day or day of the week, please call the maintenance emergency cell phone at 413-770-9425. Leave a voicemail if necessary.

In some circumstances when the mandated policy above is not sufficient to cover our staffing needs, or when a crisis situation is presented, the following guidelines apply:

1. In addition to the “rolling list” above, all employees will be asked to volunteer to work overtime.

2. If the number of volunteers stepping forward is insufficient, all other positions on the campus may be mandated to work overtime. The methodology for scheduling and assignments will be determined by the Program Director/Manager.

3. Staff required to work the mandated overtime will be notified as soon as possible.

4. As stated above, it is the employee’s responsibility to be present for any and all assigned overtime shifts. Failure to do so will be viewed the same as failing to show for a regular shift and will result in disciplinary action up to an including termination.

At various times throughout the year, overtime may be mandated due to a shift staffing shortage. In the event a staff must be mandated to stay, the following guidelines apply:

1. Overtime may be mandated for the following positions: Youth Development Professional (YDPs), Assistant Supervisors, and Supervisors.

• Residential staff – will not be mandated on Saturday or Sunday nights due to having worked a 14-hour day. They may volunteer to work a weekend overnight with administrator approval. If there is no other option the administrator will come in and cover the weekend overnight shifts.

• Overnight staff – may be mandated on school days, but should be released as teachers, clinicians and administrators arrive. Overnight shift may be mandated on weekend mornings, but every effort should be made to release them by noon, even if the administrator must come in and cover.

• Day staff – is always eligible to be mandated for the subsequent residential shift.

• On-Call and overtime staff – are not subject to the mandate procedure.

2. A “rolling list” with all employees’ names (in the above categories) based on seniority will be created to determine the order in which employees will be mandated. The least senior employee will be at the top of the list. Once mandated, the employee’s name will go to the bottom of the list.

3. When possible, those staff at the top of the mandate list will be given at least 24 hours’ notice that they are now at the top of the list and expected to work the next mandated shift.

4. It is the employee’s responsibility to be present for any and all assigned overtime shifts. Failure to do so will be viewed the same as failing to show for a regular shift and will result in disciplinary action up to an including termination.

All HEC staff, especially Youth Development Professional and teaching staff, are instructed in their responsibility for the safety of the students, are required to report safety hazards, and are asked to make recommendations to the appropriate administrator for accident prevention.

A. All Serious Injuries or Accidents are reported to a supervisor, thoroughly investigated and documented, and reviewed by the Program Director/Program Manager or his/her designee. Copies of these reports are sent to the appropriate regional office of DESE.

In the event of a major illness or emergency medical treatment, parents and / or guardian are to be notified as soon as possible by telephone by the nurse administrator and/or attending physician. In the event that the parents cannot be reached immediately by telephone, a nurse or administrator may send the local police to their home. By phone or telegram, the parents should be informed of the nature or circumstances of the illness or injury and the student’s medical treatment explained. In life-threatening situations, where no parent or guardian is available, the physician or school administrator must take responsibility for decision-making.

B Fire Emergencies (Please see Fire Evacuation Emergencies & Fire Drills, this section.)

C. Staffing Shortages
See Mandatory Overtime section below.

For concerns about or suspicious of child abuse or neglect, please refer to the policies cited above. The following policy pertains to concerns regarding safety and/or quality of care that do not or may not qualify as child abuse or neglect.

As stated in Hillcrest’s Policies and Procedures, and in the agency’s Code of Ethics, which is reviewed and formally accepted by all staff each year, the safety of students and staff, and the quality of the care and treatment of students are Hillcrest’s highest priorities. Therefore, staff are expected to report any and all concerns about safety or quality of care to their immediate supervisor, Program Director/Program Manager, Department Head or other agency administrator as soon as possible so that corrective action may be taken quickly and decisively.

However, if a staff member reasonably determines that Hillcrest has not adequately prevented or corrected problems that can or have had a serious adverse impact on students, and notifies the Joint Commission about such concerns, the notifying staff member will not be subject to retaliatory action, formal disciplinary actions, or informal punitive actions.

The Executive Director and/or Senior Vice President of HEC must be contacted when any of the following situations occur. In the absence of the Executive Director, the CEO/President of HEC must be contacted.
a. Incidents of child abuse.
b. Missing or runaway student.
c. Any time that staff levels go below minimum ratios.
d. Staff/student injury requiring hospitalization.
e. Serious physical plant/vehicle damage.
f. Loss of power/heat for fifteen minutes. Contact the Director of Maintenance as well.
g. Staff disciplinary action resulting in suspension.
h. Inquiries from press or media.
POLICY ON CALLING FOR COMMUNITY EMERGENCY SERVICES
In the event of urgent and/or life threatening circumstances (as defined herein):
1) If staff can access an outside telephone line, staff are authorized to call 911 for emergency assistance from fire and rescue or emergency medical services.
2) If staff cannot access an outside telephone line, staff will notify the supervisor or available administrator of the need for community emergency assistance.
If the circumstances or conditions are potentially dangerous, but are not urgent and/or immediately life threatening, staff will notify the supervisor.
If the situation might require police intervention rather than fire and rescue or medical services, staff will notify the supervisor.
The supervisor is authorized to determine further action, such as immediately notifying external authorities (e.g., calling 911, fire or police) or notifying a program director.”
“Urgent and/or life threatening circumstances” – Definition:
• A situation that poses an immediate and unexpected risk to health, life or property, and that requires urgent intervention from community services (e.g., fire and rescue) to prevent further injury, death or serious damage.
• A condition of urgent and immediate need for action and/or assistance by community services.
• An apparent and presenting (not potential) condition that presents a very serious, clear, present injury, damage or danger to persons or property, and that cannot be managed by HEC personnel, Supervisors or Managers..
• A state of crisis that is present and unfolding in the present (rather than potentially or possible), and that presents an unmanageable threat to lives or serious and major damage to property.
Examples of Urgent and /or Life Threatening Circumstances:
• A person has lost consciousness, or cannot breathe, or is losing copious amounts of blood.
• A fire in a building.
• Serious, major storm damage to a building to the extent that lives or well-being is threatened.
Examples of what does NOT constitute Urgent and /or Life Threatening Circumstances:
In these types of situations, the Supervisor should be notified, not community intervention services.
• A student is verbally or even physically threatening, destroying property or is running away.
• A student or staff has physical symptoms that should be checked by a nurse but are not serious or life threatening.
• A situation that might eventually require police intervention.

The following procedures will be followed as soon as a staff person becomes aware that a student is missing:
A. Perform a brief search of the immediate area, not to exceed one minute. Staff person should then inform another staff that the student is, indeed, missing.
B. If the student is not located in the preliminary search, the staff person must notify the supervisor, providing the following information:
1) Name of student
2) Location at last sighting
3) Description of clothing
4) Mood of student
5) Information that might indicate destination
6) Time of disappearance
C. The supervisor will organize a search of the grounds and immediate area around the campus. (Each campus-specific missing student procedure details area buildings, outside areas and nearby streets to be searched.)
D. If the student is not found in the immediate area around campus, the supervisor will assign specific routes to be covered (see campus-specific procedures). If the student is not found within five minutes, the search will be widened (see campus-specific procedures).
E. During the first fifteen minutes, the supervisor will obtain the following information from the nurse on duty:
1) Height 4) Age
2) Weight 5) Distinguishing marks
3) Medical problems 6) Recent photograph
F. At the end of fifteen minutes, the supervisor will notify the following, giving information from paragraphs 2 and 5:
1) Program Director or administrator on call
2) Local Police
3) Others as listed in campus-specific procedures.
G. All agencies and involved people will be notified when the student is found. Once the student has been returned to school, the following shall occur:
1) The search coordinator will call in all search teams.
2) The Program Director, Executive Director and/or Senior Vice President, CEO or designee, and appropriate agencies will be notified. Any Hillcrest campus that may have sent staff should also be called.
3) If the student was a runaway, they should be placed on close supervision until their Treatment Team meets.
4) Any equipment used (e.g., walkie-talkies, cell phones) must be signed in and placed in the administrator’s office. The walkie-talkies must be recharged.
H. The reasons why the student was missing will be reviewed by the administrator, and the staff responsible for the student will be counseled to prevent the recurrence of a similar situation.
The search procedure will also be reviewed and critiqued to be sure it was implemented properly.

A. Evacuation Emergencies
At the sound of a fire alarm or in the event of an emergency requiring building evacuation, the following procedure is to be observed:
1. Use common sense – – do not panic.
2. All emergency exits are posted. Person in charge of group, class or dorm will ascertain the dangerous situation and determine the nearest safe evacuation route to be used.
3. In all emergencies, that individual will take a head count of the students under his/her supervision.
4. Where possible, one staff member will lead the group rapidly, but calmly, while another staff functions as rear escort.
5. The group is to be taken to a designated safe area away from the evacuated building.
6. Students are again counted and grouped.
7. The administrator on duty will be notified as soon as possible, the shift supervisor will contact Berkshire Communicators (499-3650) to inform them of the degree of emergency on campus.
8. A designated person goes through the building to ascertain that the building has been completely evacuated. This person must make it known to another staff what he/she is doing. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that someone does this.
9. A second designated person will be responsible for seeing that all students and staff have been accounted for. In the event that a student is missing, the Missing/Runaway Student Procedures will be instituted.
10. After the alarm(s) have been reactivated and the building(s) is safe to enter, the administrator on duty will signal for everyone to return.
11. IN ANY EMERGENCY, THE SAFETY OF THE STUDENTS IS PARAMOUNT.
B. Fire Drills
Floor plans are posted in every bedroom and classroom, and are posted in other activity areas. The plans indicate the evacuation route(s) to be followed to exit the building.
Each residential and overnight shift performs a fire drill quarterly in the dorm buildings. The academic shift conducts monthly fire drills in all areas used as classrooms. All drills are recorded on the HEC Fire Drill or Activity Report form (see section D.). The supervisor in charge of running the drill must vary the drill conditions to require students and staff to react to potentially dangerous situations, such as blocked hallways or heavy smoke.
Per recommendation of Lenox, Great Barrington, and Pittsfield Fire Departments, 911 will be called for any alarm activity, excluding drills.
All personnel on all shifts are trained to perform assigned tasks during drills, first during the orientation period, then quarterly thereafter. The training includes the use of firefighting equipment.
A Fire Drill Report is completed after every scheduled and unscheduled fire drill. (See below for Fire Drill Report Retention Policy.)
The supervisor prepares the report and comments on the effectiveness of the drill. Where deficiencies are noted, the supervisor must run a follow-up training session and document such training.
Special care is taken to ensure that students understand the nature of such drills. Drill practices, without the use of the school alarm system, are utilized when necessary for additional training.
Mobility-impaired students are carried if necessary, to the designated safe area. Students should not be carried or escorted against their will during a drill of any kind. However, during a genuine emergency, unwilling students will be moved or carried as carefully as possible in order to insure their safety.
The school keeps a written log of all evacuation drills in the Administrator’s office. Included in the log is date and time of drill, the affected building, elapsed time, numbers of staff and students involved and comments or recommendations on the drill.
C. Fire Drill Procedures
When you are ready to do the actual fire drill, first call Berkshire Communicators to ask them to put the building on test* for ½ hour. You will need to provide the alarm panel number. Ask them to confirm the address and building.
*Test – During the test period, Communicators will receive a signal but will not dispatch the fire department. They will have the time an alarm came in and status of the alarm when you call to take the alarm off test. This information must be written on the Fire Drill Activity Report form.
Wait approximately three (3) minutes, and then conduct the drill.
Call Berkshire Communicators, tell them the drill is over and take the alarm off test.
Once the alarm has been restored and normal activity resumes, complete the Fire Drill Activity Report.
When an alarm is activated for any reason other than a drill, 911 should be called as soon as possible to ensure the fire department is notified and to provide additional information. Just because an alarm goes off in a building does not guarantee that Berkshire Communicators receives the signal (weather conditions, etc., could affect the system), so by calling 911 you ensure the fire department is notified. Fire departments are required by law to respond in some manner to all fire alarms.
Example of when you would call and what you might say:
• If a student was seen pulling the fire alarm, you would call 911 and tell them it is a false alarm, and then they have the option of having the fire department send less vehicles.
You must never call Berkshire Communicators to cancel the fire departments response to an alarm.
D. Fire Drill or Activity Report form

E. Retention of Fire Drill Reports
Fire Drill reports are kept for two years, so that any given time, each program site has fire drill documentation for two complete years.

After two years the reports are thrown away or destroyed.
F. Power Outage / Fire Alarm Trouble
In the event of a power outage or a fire alarm panel indicating trouble in any Hillcrest building or location during the day shift, Monday – Friday (7 am-3 pm), please contact the maintenance person on your campus immediately.
Before 7 am or after 3 pm or on a weekend/holiday – if the power outage or alarm trouble lasts longer than 15 minutes, please call the maintenance emergency cell phone at 413-770-9425. Leave a voicemail if necessary.
Please also refer to the Maintenance On-Call Policy
in Section II, above.

In the case that a student being transported by HEC becomes non-compliant, refuses to return to campus, and/or leaves the supervision of staff or visiting resource without permission, the following steps must be taken:
1. Exhaust all attempts to utilize verbal intervention to encourage student to return.
2. If student runs from staff supervision, DO NOT PURSUE OR CHASE STUDENT. Ensure security of any remaining students that may be in your care.
3. If in a vehicle that is parked, REMOVE KEYS. If there are other students in the vehicle, DO NOT LEAVE STUDENT/s UNATTENDED. Any remaining students inside the vehicle must become the priority of your care.
4. Once a student is out of eyesight, immediately contact the Campus Supervisor* via the HEC Cell Phone to notify them of the situation and relay the following information: (supervisor cell phone??) Spare emergency medical file.
a. Name of student
b. Exact location at last sighting
c. Description of clothing and any belongings they may have taken.
d. Mood of student
e. Information that might indicate destination
f. Time of disappearance
g. Inform the supervisor whether the area you are in is safe to stay. If the area is not safe, please remain in vehicle with doors locked.
h. If safety is an immediate concern, please proceed to the closest public area. (i.e. Gas Station, McDonald’s, Fire Station, Police Station)
*If the Campus Supervisor cannot be reached within 5 minutes, please contact the Transportation Coordinator. TBD
5. Utilize Cell Phone camera to record any pertinent information.
6. Driver will notify the local law enforcement agency (via 911 if direct number is not available) and provide them with available details, including:
a. Biographical information and photographs. (Included with EMF)
b. Names of friends, relatives and acquaintances if known
c. Exact Location at last sighting
d. Description of clothing and any belongings they may have taken.
e. Mood of student
f. Information that might indicate destination
g. Time of disappearance
h. Ensure that the law enforcement agency handling the case enters your child’s name and biographical information into the National Crime Information Center computer network.
i. Driver and/or staff are responsible for obtaining any law enforcement contact information. (i.e. Officer’s Name, Case #, Location of Police Department, Department’s phone number)
j. Relay any law enforcement information to the Supervisor and/or Transportation Coordinator.
7. The Campus Supervisor will immediately notify:
a. Program Director or Administrator on-call to report the information provided by the drivers along with the cell phone number of the driver.
b. Transportation Coordinator and provide update of current situation.
c. On-call Clinical Administrator.
8. The Driver/Staff are to remain in the area and await further instructions from either a Supervisor, Transportation Coordinator, Program Director, and/or AD-On-Call.
9. Program Director and/or Administrator on-call will notify the Senior Vice President, Executive Director,and/or President of current situation.
10. Upon return, the Driver and Staff must complete all documentation, including Critical Incident Report, before leaving shift.