Floor Captain Program
The Floor Captain Program plays a critical role in fostering a culture of emergency preparedness and enhancing public awareness of safety initiates throughout the university. The mission of the Floor Captain program is to equip our UTSA team members with tools to engage the campus community in preparedness, response, and recovery efforts that help achieve the Office of Risk & Emergency Management (OREM) goal of fostering a disaster resilient university.
Floor Captain training utilizes a mixture of presentations and hands-on activities to provide an experience that has been designed to enhance safety and security initiatives while providing a point of reference for guidance and direction to building occupants. During emergency drills or events, Floor Captains are trained to assist with evacuations and re-entry, shelter-in-place protocols, and to interface with first responders to help those in need.
Program Highlights
Occupant Safety
Floor Captains are trained on basic response concepts, university plans, and emergency procedures. The training outlines the response framework for campus emergency operations, and how Floor Captains fit into the university response structure.
Emergency Evacuation and Shelter-in-Place
Participants receive instructions and hands-on training to activate emergency procedures and safely evacuate university buildings. Conversely, Floor Captains gain insight that helps them identify situations that may warrant shelter-in-place procedures.
Fire Safety
Floor Captains receive awareness training on fire safety including how to use a fire extinguisher and when it’s safe to do so.
Weather Safety
Participants are trained to identify severe weather and implement an appropriate response upon notification. UTSA is a proud member of the National Weather Service Storm Ready program in support of advanced planning, education and awareness.
Crime Prevention & Active Threat
The program is designed to enhance personal preparedness through education on crime prevention awareness techniques and active shooter response guidelines.
Roles and Responsibilities
What Floor Captains Do
- Serve as the safety liaison for your department/office/building.
- Support and/or assist with building evacuations, fire drills, or other emergency response protocols to the best of your abilities.
- Share safety and weather briefings/notices with your teams.
- Attend the Floor Captain Safety Liaison onboarding training (3 hours).
- Attend one refresher course each year (1 hour).
- Participate in a safety walkthrough of your workspace after onboarding training to familiarize yourself with the unique safety resources and needs in your area.
What Floor Captains Don't Do
- Floor Captains are not required to put their own safety in jeopardy.
- They are not expected to perform any duties that require expertise and or extensive training, such as putting out large fires.
- Floor Captains are not to carry out any task that they cannot perform safely.
- When conducting building evacuations, they are not expected to argue with people who do not wish to cooperate.
- Floor Captains are not expected to serve as emergency personnel experts. Their role is awareness and guidance.
Department Representation
Maintaining a consistent state of readiness throughout UTSA is paramount, and in order to achieve this, each department with an on-campus presence should have at least one Floor Captain working on campus five days a week. Should work modalities change, or as turnover occurs, it’s vital that department leadership assists in the selection of new Floor Captains as quickly as possible.
After an employee volunteers to take part in the Floor Captain Program, Business Continuity & Emergency Management (BCEM) works with the employee to get them enrolled in a training course, provide them with supplies, facilitate a safety walkthrough of their specific workspace and connect them with other building Floor Captains.
Use this survey to identify UTSA employees who will serve as Floor Captains for your area.
Relevant Training
- EP 485: Floor Captain Safety Liaison Course
- EP 492: Floor Captain Refresher Course
- EP 475: Heart Saver (CPR/AED training)
To register for training, visit the People Excellence Training and Development website.
Upon completion of training, Floor Captains are expected to let all permanent faculty and staff on their assigned floor know who they are and meet with employee staff on the assigned floor individually or in groups. Floor Captains are expected to ask office occupants to complete Occupancy Forms and review the UTSA Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
