UMBC is a community involving large numbers of individuals in a complex living/learning environment. The ability to effectively respond to an emergency or traumatic experience and bring the situation to a suitable conclusion is the responsibility of UMBC management and staff.

A traumatic experience is an event in which an individual experiences or witnesses an actual serious injury or death. When traumatic events occur in the university environment, crisis situations may create serious disruption to the campus environment.

Emergencies are unplanned events that can cause trauma, disrupt university operations, cause physical or environmental damage, or threaten the facility’s financial standing or public image. Obviously, numerous events can be categorized as emergencies.

This plan provides a structure and protocols to follow when dealing with a traumatic experience or emergency response. For this planning process to be successful, one critical component is necessary for managing the university’s resources, an up-to-date workable "Crisis Response Plan". This plan will address most conceivable emergency and traumatic incidents.