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Stanford Community Emergency Response Team (SCERT)

As of June 2026 the SCERT Program has been sunset 

The scope of the Stanford Community Emergency Response Team (SCERT) activities noted below was focused on the historic campus; activities related to health and safety at Stanford Redwood City are managed by SRWC Operations.

Mission

The Stanford Community Emergency Response Team (SCERT) augmented first responders, serving as a key resource in the university’s response planning. The mission of SCERT was to provide emergency support in a disaster situation to staff and members of the Stanford community, including:

  • Assistance in building evacuation
  • Triage and first aid activities where necessary
  • Establish and maintain communications

UIT SCERT responsibilities and protocols

UIT had maintained an active SCERT program (with the exception of through the pandemic) for over 20 years.

Safety was our paramount concern: take care of yourself, your unit/team, and our UIT community – in that priority order. The UIT SCERT was a team; independent team member action, though laudatory, is not part of our philosophy. First Aid was our primary focus: triage, treatment, and medical transport. We strived to provide complete, accurate, and timely communications. Along with a Team Leader, we coordinated activities for our unit's focus, direction, and actions. Supervisors had authority and responsibility for their unit direction and actions. Coordinators were responsible for their unit actions. The counsel of all team members and support volunteers was carefully considered.

UIT SCERT was under the direction of the UIT DOC (Department Operations Center).

The UIT SCERT was not deployed until there were at least three (3) Supervisors or Coordinators present. Volunteers were briefed before deployment. Upon evacuation, team members took fire extinguishers and First Aid kits from their building and brought them to the Emergency Assembly Point (EAP) Coordinator and then went to check-in at the ARK (Ark is a Latin-based word that means a "box" or container) between Polya and Pine Halls.
 

Activities

  • Assembled at the ARK
  • Assessed situation
  • Established Chain of Command, checked out gear (no gear, no deployment)
  • Established COMnet before deployment
  • Maintained an orderly chain of command to guarantee success
  • Completed checklists
  • Maintained unit log
  • Deferred to all civil authority (fire department, police, doctors, national guard) in all situations


For questions regarding SCERT, please contact the IT Resilience coordinator, Jay Khan (jkhan@stanford.edu.)

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