17.11.2022What to Do in an Emergency

Emergencies rarely announce themselves. To handle an emergency, you should stay calm and take deliberate and swift action.

Fortunately, things like heavy injuries, fires or the release of dangerous substances are very rare at UZH. Nonetheless, last year the on-call services of UZH’s Safety, Security and Environment office were called upon 142 times, while the in-house fire department was deployed on 16 occasions.

It thus makes perfect sense to think ahead of time about how to best respond in an emergency. “There’s no one way to answer this, as emergencies come in a variety of forms that each require a different approach,” says Jörg Frank, head of the fire safety and emergency procedures team in the Safety, Security and Environment Office. “In general, though, the most important thing is to stay calm.”

Besides staying calm, Jörg Frank says it is also very helpful if people can remember a few simple steps and know which emergency services to call.
In brief:

• You can always raise the alarm! Call the following numbers:
• 144 if you need medical assistance, e.g. if there’s been an accident
• 118 if you need the fire department, e.g. if there’s a fire
• 117 if you need the police, e.g. if you or someone else is being threatened
• Help others if you can
• Handle the situation, but put your own safety first

In the event of a fire:

1. Sound the alarm

• Call 118

2. Rescue others

• Put your own safety first
• Inform everyone who’s near and at risk about the situation
• Help those who can’t help themselves to leave the area

3. Extinguish

• Try to extinguish the fire from a safe distance using a fire extinguisher, fire blanket or fire hose cabinet.

In case of an emergency, UZH members and visitors may contact UZH’s on-call services around the clock 365 days a year (internal phone no.: 112) “We also recommend that employees install the UZH now app,” says Jörg Frank. The app enables users to report an emergency with only one click – or directly alert external emergency services, if needed. These functions can also be used outside of working hours and in all of Switzerland. In addition, UZH can inform app users of an emergency at university via push notification. The app also lists location-specific information, e.g. on defibrillators, first aid rooms, building evacuation or how to behave in an emergency.

In order to learn about emergency scenarios in more depth or to keep your knowledge up to date, Jörg Frank recommends attending in-house training – such as the course Es brennt, was tun (“What to do in the event of a fire”). New courses are announced through President’s Services and published on the Safety, Security and Environment website.