CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
BOMB THREAT PROCEDURES
CITY HALL & THE TRIPLEX (CJC, MSB, & OPB)
Threat Reception
1. When a bomb threat is received by phone, in person,
or by any other communication (fax, letter, email) the
operator or threat receiver should remain calm. The threat
receiver should use the Bomb Threat Checklist
provided in this document.
2. Keep the person on the phone/in person as long as
possible and try to get as much information as obtainable.
Ask
the caller/person to repeat the message. If the threat
is received by another type of communication (letter,
fax,
email) complete #3 then go to #5 for Threat Evaluation.
3. Obtain as much information as possible as detailed
below:
A. Location of bomb
B. Time of detonation
C. Outside appearance or description of bomb
D. Reason for planting bomb
E. Caller’s location
F. Caller’s name and/or affiliation.
4. Listen and note the following:
A. Speech patterns
B. Background noises
C. Male or female
D. Adult or juvenile
E. Is the voice educated or coarse?
F. Is the voice accented or otherwise distinguishable?
G. Does the person seem angry or rational and deliberate?
Threat Evaluation
5. At the conclusion of the threat, immediately call
1-911 to notify Police and then notify building management.
After the Police have been notified through 1-911, building
management must call the Bomb Disposal Unit
directly (215-685-8013) and inform them of the incident
and the name of the incident commander or where the
command center is located. Ensure the Bomb Threat Checklist
has been completed and provide a copy to the
appropriate building manager or emergency services. Building
management shall contact the appropriate city
liaison(s) to inform them of the potential bomb threat.
Do not pull fire alarms. immediately call 1-911 to notify
Police and then notify building management. Building
management contacts are as follows:
A. CJC - Criminal Justice Center, Building Manager,
215-683-7790
B. OPB - One Parkway Building, Building Manager, 215-683-0033/0034
C. MSB - Municipal Services Building, Building Manager, 215-686-3900
D. City Hall – Public Property, Building Manager, 215-686-4525
6. Building management must then alert Municipal Radio
at 686-4514/15. Municipal Radio will request radio
silence of affected area(s).
7. Building management must designate a primary and
alternate location for a Command Center. The Command
Center should be located in a switchboard room or any
focal point for telephone or radio communications.
8. Security and building occupants should be observant
of any suspicious people who appear to be nervous or
may
be carrying a suspicious package. If this is discovered,
DO NOT attempt to touch, recover, or apprehend the
person or device. Keep the person under surveillance
and notify the security manager of the suspected person
and/or device.
Search Procedure
9. After notification of the threat has been made, the
following precautions should be complied with:
A. Limit access to affected area(s).
B. Do not use radio equipment to transmit messages. This
includes cell phones and pagers.
C. Do not use light switches.
D. Do not smoke.
E. Do not accept the contents of deliveries as being
safe simply because they were delivered by routine means.
F. Do not pull fire alarms.
If a suspicious object is found, observe the following
precautions;
G. Do not touch or disturb any suspicious object.
H. Do not attempt to carry a suspected bomb.
I. Do not open a suspicious container or object.
J. Do not cut a string, cord or wire on a suspicious
object.
K. Do not raise, remove or unscrew the cover of a suspicious
object.
L. Do not place a suspicious object in water.
M. If you suspect an object is a bomb, let the search
team know its location.
N. Any freight elevator will be placed in the manual
mode of operation and will be operable only by building
management staff/emergency services for transportation
purposes.
O. All storage and mechanical equipment rooms are to
be secured and checked for suspicious packages.
P. DO NOT DISTURB OR TOUCH ANY LOCATED PACKAGE. NOTIFY
THE APPROPRIATE
MANAGER.
If there is an imminent threat to employees the building
will be evacuated.
A floor-by-floor search will be initiated by Police,
who may be assisted by building management beginning
in the
suspected areas or the lowest level of the building,
including fire towers, checking for suspicious packages
or
anything that looks like it doesn’t belong
there. Do not open closets or turn any equipment
on or off.
Generally
the search will be of all public areas of the building,
but based on the threat and the threat evaluation, the
search
procedure may be adjusted accordingly. All rest rooms
will be checked, looking in open trashcans and behind
toilets. All elevator lobbies will be checked.
10. Designated, trained building occupants (i.e. fire
captains, department emergency response personnel, etc)
assigned
to specific work areas should participate in the search
since they are best qualified to identify objects that
do not
belong in their respective work areas. Therefore, the
use of designated and trained volunteer employees to
aid in
the search can be beneficial and is encouraged. If volunteers
cannot be obtained to perform this task, managers
should accept this responsibility or a systematic way
for the areas to be checked should be developed.
11. The police department and building management will
instruct all employees to look around their respective
work
area for unrecognized items prior to any directed evacuation.
Evacuation Procedure
12. The top manager/administrator/director for each
department should: take charge and control of the emergency
by
informing everyone in their department to remain in their
area until further notice; refrain from calling other
employees/units; and communicate to everyone that building
management and police have been notified and are
trying to determine the next step to take. The Police
will take charge of the building when a suspicious object
is
found or confirmed or Police determine there’s
an imminent threat to building occupants.
13. When a suspicious object is found, the Police Department
will make a determination whether to evacuate
employees from the building. If an evacuation is required,
the Police officer in charge of the situation will notify
the City official responsible for the building and building
management and the Police Department will begin an
orderly evacuation on the suspected floor(s) or the entire
building. The three (3) floor evacuation procedure will
be followed initially, unless the Police Department recommends
that the entire building be evacuated. The
Commissioner of Public Property will also be notified
by building management.
14. The top manager/administrator/director for each
department should explain if the decision to evacuate
is made.
Building management and police will begin an orderly
evacuation of the required floors. Employees should not
disturb or touch any suspicious package. Report all suspicious
packages to your designated response personnel
(i.e. – fire captain, etc.)
15. All
building occupants will assemble in Love Park on the
JFK Blvd. side. This gathering point is a safe
distance
from the building (a minimum of 300 feet in all directions),
and should prevent injury from an explosion or blast
fragments. Once at the evacuation assembly area, personnel
will be accounted for to insure that everyone exited
the building safely.
Communications
16. The Police incident commander will notify the respective
City management representative of the emergency
situation and of their floor’s evacuation status
via landline telephone. All Radio equipment, including
cell phones
and pagers, should not be used for communication. Public
address systems may be used as long as they do not
use the radio frequencies.
17. The
City management representative on that floor will communicate
verbally the emergency situation and
the
floor’s evacuation status to the floor’s
employees.
Re-occupancy procedure
18. Upon notification of an all clear from the Police
incident commander, building management will issue an
all clear
to building occupants inside and outside the building
and tenants will then be allowed to reoccupy the facility.
Training Procedures
City departments and members of building management
will train all of their Emergency Response Personnel,
Floor
Captains, Assistant Monitors, and Safety Officers and
inform all other employees on the items in this procedure.
Assistance with training can be obtained from the Police
Department’s Bomb Disposal unit.
Since practice of emergency procedures will increase
the comfort levels of employees, drills of the Bomb Threat
Procedures will be performed at least annually.
Location of unidentified suspect objects - independent
of a communicated bomb threat
DO NOT DISTURB OR TOUCH ANY PACKAGE OR OBJECT. NOTIFY
THE APPROPRIATE MANAGER.
BOMB THREAT CHECKLIST
Your Name: _____________________________ Phone
number:__________________
Phone
Call In
Person Emai Letter Other_______________________________
Time Threat Received:___________________________ Date:__________________________________
BE CALM, COURTEOUS, AND LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INTERUPT THE INDIVIDUAL,
TRY TO KEEP THE INDIVIDUAL TALKING. ASK INDIVIDUAL TO REPEAT MESSAGE. Inform
the individual that a bomb
detonation can cause injury or death. Note: If this is an actual bomb threat,
in many instances the individual is alerting someone because
he/she has changed their mind and wants the bomb neutralized.
If the individual seems agreeable to further conversation,
ask questions such as:
Where is the bomb? Building/Location ________________________
Area: ____________________________
When was the bomb placed? __________________________________________________________________
When is the bomb going to explode? Hour? _________AM
PM Time Remaining:__________________
What kind of bomb is it? ______________________________________________________________________
What does the bomb look like? _________________________________________________________________
Do you know who placed the bomb?_____________________________________________________________
What is the reason for the bomb? _______________________________________________________________
Where are you now? _________________________________
Name?__________________________________
What is your address? ________________________________
Affiliation? ______________________________
Does the individual appear familiar with the plant or
building by description of the bomb? Describe.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Write out the message in its entirety and any
other information on the other side of this checklist.
During communication with the individual, try to acquire any information that
may be helpful to police to identify the individual
and to locate the explosive device. Please check any and all of the following
that may apply:
Identification Characteristics
Male Female Juvenile Adult
_____ Approx. age
Describe Appearance (race, height,
weight, hair color, distinguishing marks)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Voice Characteristics
high pitch deep loud soft pleasant raspy stutter
Speech patterns
fast slow distinct distorted nasal
Language
excellent good fair poor laughing other_____________________________________
Accent
local foreign out
of town Describe_______________________________________________
Manner
calm angry rational irrational coherent incoherent nervous righteous emotional
other and
explain ________________________________________________________________________
Background Noises
factory machines office
machines trains airplanes street music
(what kind)_____________
quiet voices party atmosphere other
Explain__________________________________________
Immediately after or during communication
with the individual, inform all of the contacts located
at the bottom of this second page.
MESSAGE:
CALL THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE BOMB
THREAT HAS BEEN RECIEVED
POLICE: Dial 911 if using an outside line (most City
owned bldgs. must dial 1-911 & most City leased
bldgs. must dial 9-911)
YOUR SUPERVISOR: Name _______________________________
Phone Number: ______________________________
BUILDING MANAGEMENT: CJC - Criminal Justice Center,
Building Manager, 215-683-7790
OPB - One Parkway Building, Building Manager, 215-683-0033/0034
MSB - Municipal Services Building, Building Manager, 215-686-3900
City Hall – Public Property, Building Manager, 215-686-4525
|