IES Barcelona Safety Measures

Students are informed about all our safety measures during the arrival orientation. In order to ensure the students safety IES Barcelona has prepared a series of comprehensive procedures listed below. If you have further questions, contact the Student Services Dept.

INDEPENDENT TRAVEL ITINERARY FORM

It is mandatory for students to leave their addresses and contact numbers when they do independent travels to the student services department while in the program. We may need to contact them in emergency situations.

INCIDENT REPORT

IES Barcelona conducts a survey with the information of students who have been victims of some form of violence or accident, however minor, while in the program. Our aim is to provide statistical information to future IES students and their families to make them aware of potential dangers and, hopefully, thereby to help them avoid becoming victims.

REGISTRATION WITH THE US CONSULATE

We compile all students’ registration form and photocopies of their Visa and Passaport after their arrival to Barcelona. Both documents are taken to the US Consulate in order to register all IES students. This will make it easier for them to contact you in case of an emergency and to assist you in case you lose your passport, etc.

EMERGENCY CARD

Students are provided with an emergency card at the first beginning of the program. We strongly recommend them to take the card with them at all times. The card includes the IES emergency phone number, hospital references and police phone number among others.

EMERGENCY PHONE

IES Barcelona has a 24h emergency phone number (60.64.60.919) at all students’ disposal while in the program to be used in case of a real emergency. A member of the student services department will deal with the situation by using all our resources.

SMS (or TEXT MESSAGING)

We may have to contact all our students and let them know about any contingency referred to them. This is why we strongly recommend all students to provide themselves with a cell phone while in the program. During the first few weeks of their stay we compile all students’ numbers so that, by means of computer systems, we can send instant mass text messages to their cell phones and get in touch with them. This is a very fast way to inform or remind them about general issues concerning their stay in Barcelona.

EVACUATION PLAN

We have available plans to evacuate students for safety in case of an emergency situation. The evacuation plan is discussed and explained to all IES Barcelona staff at the beginning of each term. Also, all IES Barcelona staff members will have a contingency file with the necessary students’ information in case it was needed. IES Barcelona has developed close relationships with local police and we also receive regular updates from the US Consulate in Barcelona.

Basically the IES Barcelona evacuation plan consists on:

• Students will be telephoned by IES staff and informed to report immediately to their homestays, apartments, Residence Hall or Colegio Mayor, to await further instructions
• Time permitting, students will be instructed to pack a small overnight bag, their passports and any essential medication
• The Student Services Coordinator will hire coaches to collect students from the pick up location (IES Center) and make reservations at a rendezvous hotel outside Barcelona
• If students are travelling independently or can not come to the IES Center for some reason, an effort will be made to contact them according to the IES Barcelona contact tree and the itineraries they have left with IES staff.
• Where it is necessary to expatriate students by air, either to the US or another destination, IES staff will arrange for air transportation from an airport which is open and has operating flights

DOCUMENTS ON FILE

During the total duration of the program, we keep the following documents on file from all students:

• Emergency info sheet
• Medical reports
• Copy of passport and visas

CONTACT TREE

We prepare a contact tree with all the students’ cell phone numbers. We assigned a number of them to each member of the IES Barcelona staff so we can quickly get in touch with all of them in case of an emergency.