UCLA starts new apps to notify students about campus safety conditions
(Juliette Le Saint/Illustrations director)
By Jacob Preal
Oct. 10, 2017 1:12 a.m.
UCLA now has several mobile applications to better reach students and faculty in the event of an emergency.
Michael Beck, administrative vice chancellor, said in an email statement Monday students and faculty can download the Bruins Safe mobile app so they can better prepare themselves for emergency situations. Students and faculty can also use their campus login information to access BruinAlert, UCLA’s system for notifying students of on-campus emergencies, on Everbridge, a third-party mobile app.
Beck said he thinks the app and other UCLA emergency resources are important in light of recent natural disasters and events, like the mass shooting in Las Vegas last week.
The Bruins Safe mobile app, which UCLA released in December, features safety resources, like earthquake preparedness guides, and will notify students in the event of a campus emergency.
UCLA Emergency Operations Center also runs Bruins Safe Online, a website that will notify students and faculty if the campus goes into lockdown in an emergency situation, Beck added.
The Office of Emergency Management announced in an email during a quarterly test for the BruinAlert system last month that students can also receive BruinAlerts by downloading Everbridge. BruinAlert usually notifies students of emergencies with text messages or emails.
Everbridge notifications may be faster than emails or text messages, the email said.
Brian Haas, a UCLA spokesperson, said Everbridge can send a push notification during emergencies, which serves as an additional alert with a distinct ringtone. Haas added users may misinterpret email or text notifications during emergency situations as nonemergency messages if they use ringtones familiar to users.
Haas added the app is compatible with Everbridge systems at different locations. If another campus utilizes Everbridge, students who have the app but are not enrolled in that campus’ emergency system will still be notified of emergencies, he said.
Students can download the Everbridge and Bruins Safe mobile apps on either iTunes or Google Play.
