UMBC Parking Services and Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Abstract

For the final project, our group decided to research and evaluate UMBC’s ParkingServices. One of the reasons for choosing this service is because of how overlooked it is duringdisaster events and evacuations. When most people think about who is involved in a disasterscenario on a college campus, they would immediately jump to Police or Campus EmergencyManagement rather than parking services. Parking services play a major role in controlling theuniversity's transportation and roads, which is arguably the most important role in a disaster(Radymski, 2023), making Parking services an essential part of UMBC’s response. They are alsoresponsible for coordinating the use of lots and garages as staging areas, shelters, or distributionpoints for supplies. Their role supports safety and public health by keeping evacuation routesopen, reducing delays for medical response, and providing organized spaces during crises.Another reason that we chose Parking Services was to examine their preparation and training fora disaster event and if accessible the plan that they had set up or drafted for said event. Whileresearching, we wanted to get a better understanding of the service's interactions with other services available, like with campus police or other departments. Setting up the research boileddown to these questions: What types and scales of disasters are parking services prepared tohandle? What public health disasters are they prepared to handle? What training is required ofemployees regarding disaster preparedness? What other organizations do they work with on aday- to- day basis? When there is an emergency? A disaster? And finally, what is directly withinthe control of parking services, and what actions require multiple organizations? These questionswould provide us with an adequate overview of the role and responsibilities of parking services on campus during emergency events. They also allow us to identify any gaps that are present inthe system either in the plan or training.