Campus Community Emergency Response Team (CCERT)

Recognizing that managing events following a serious emergency on campus can quickly overwhelm the resources of first responders, UK Police Department’s Division of Crisis Management & Preparedness offers Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) training for faculty and staff.

The primary purpose of UK C-CERT is to apply established CERT curriculum, adopted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to our University environment.  Every campus is a virtual “city within a city," with many of the same challenges to public health and safety faced by any other community, but also some unique risks and vulnerabilities.  UK has a large, diverse and multicultural population of faculty, staff, and students on campus in offices, residence halls, classrooms and patient areas.  The complexity of the University’s critical infrastructure and the tens of thousands of visitors for special events and conferences underscores the need to educate employees about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact our campus and its vital resources. 

Following a major disaster, first responders who provide law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. Factors such as number of victims, communication failures and road blockages will prevent people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moment's notice through 911. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life-saving and life sustaining needs.

UK C-CERT members will receive hands-on training in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety and suppression, light search and rescue, disaster medical operations, team organization, disaster psychology and terrorism.  Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, C-CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help.

UK C-CERT serves to complement the University of Kentucky Police Department’s response to serious events. After receiving training, these faculty and staff members from across campus may be activated to:

• Close roads and direct the flow of traffic away from a scene
• Evacuate buildings and assist in keeping the facility closed until it’s deemed safe
• Serve as a liaison between UKPD officers and other responding agencies
• Suppress small fires and use extinguishers to help in evacuations
• Other duties as needed, as a force multiplier for UKPD.

Training is held once annually, typically in the fall semester, for five weeks at UK's Emergency Operation Center and ends with a mock disaster exercise.  Volunteers must attend all five sessions in order to receive the required hours of instruction required by FEMA. 

FALL 2024 registration is now OPEN through September 6. Class size is limited and enrollment is on a first come-first served basis. The training is free and open to the community. To register, please click here. UK faculty and staff who want to participate in the C-CERT training this fall will be expected to obtain approval from their supervisor to attend 40 hours of training and submit to an electronic background check.  

Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 17, C-CERT training will be held for five weeks in The 90. The training will take place each Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will end with a mock disaster exercise Tuesday, Oct. 15. 

Prospective UK faculty and staff participants are expected to obtain approval from their supervisor and submit to an electronic background check.  Refresher trainings on a variety of topics are planned each year for UK C-CERT members along with opportunities to utilize these skills in responding to campus events or emergencies. 
 

Participants will be required to:

• Complete the UK-C-CERT 40 hour basic classroom training; or
• Be a current CERT Member within another jurisdiction; or
• Be a current CERT Instructor, and
• Attend annual refresher courses and/or training opportunities. 

UK C-CERT Members must also complete two online Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute (EMI) independent study courses:

• IS-100.HE: Introduction to Incident Command System (ICS) for Higher Education
• IS-700.A:  National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction

For more information please email or call 859-257-9665.