WHO: Maureen Rush, Penn vice president for public safety

Richard Gelles, dean of Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice

Student-run, Medical Emergency Response Team, or MERT

Philadelphia Fire Department

Philadelphia Police Department

WHAT: Penn Public Safety Division simulated hazardous materials accident to test UPennAlert emergency notification system

WHEN: Nov. 1, 2007, 10:45 a.m.

WHERE: Caster Building

Locust Walk, near 37th Street

Penn's Division of Public Safety will conduct the first test of the new UPennAlert emergency notification system in a simulated hazardous materials accident..  In the drill, some students, faculty and staff are overcome by fumes, and the building is evacuated.   Penn's student-run Medical Emergency Response Team, along with the Philadelphia Fire Department, will remove victims from the building and treat them in the Caster Building plaza.  

The UPennAlert system goes into effect as soon as the information is relayed to Penn's Public Safety.  Within minutes, the Penn Alert system notifies students, faculty and staff by simultaneous alerts through text messaging, voice mail and e-mail to cell phones, landline phones, fax machines and PDAs.