Taking Responsibility
for Your Safety
at Sherman College
of Chiropractic
2020 Springfi eld Road | P.O. Box 1452
Spartanburg, SC 29304
www.sherman.edu
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
FOR YOUR SAFETY
Personal safety and protection of property is the
responsibility of each individual. Make the decision
to assume responsibility for your safety and the
security of your property. Campus Security urges
everyone to participate in making our campus as
safe as possible. If you develop good security habits,
you can assist us in better safeguarding our college.
The Sherman College campus and surrounding area
are relatively safe, however, no area is completely
immune to criminal activity. Educate yourself about
the resources available to you and the ways you can
help protect yourself.
Below are some safety tips for everyone:
Practice situational awareness; learn to
determine what is normal and what is not.
Travel in groups, never alone.
Walk only in areas that are well lit.
Stay alert and don’t get distracted.
Trust your instincts. Leave an area if uneasy.
Lock it up. Secure your vehicle and belongings.
Put your name or other identifying marks on
belongings and valuables. The college assumes
no liability for personal possessions or vehicles.
Do not make yourself a target for robbery or
attack. Do not aunt large amounts of cash,
jewelry or other items of value.
Make sure Student A airs has your current
correct contact information on le.
Report suspicious activity by calling 864-578-
8770, ext. 333, 864-316-7576 or 864-680-9802.
EMERGENCY CONTACT NUMBERS
To report a crime or an emergency, contact any
Sherman College employee or call one of the
following authorities:
Police, Fire, EMS- Emergency
911
O ce of Campus Security
864-578-8770ext.333 or
864-680-9802 or 864-316-7576
SAFE Homes-Rape Crisis Coalition
800-273-5066
Mental Health Center
864-585-0366
Mary Black Memorial Hospital
864-573-3000
Spartanburg Regional Medical Center
864-560-6000
Alcohol & Drug Abuse Center
864-582-7588
FIND MORE ONLINE
You can view the South Carolina Sex O ender’s
web site at https://www.city-data.com/so/so-
Spartanburg-South-Carolina.html.
You can view crime statistics online at:
https://www.sherman.edu/mdocs-posts/
campus_security_report/.
THE IMPORTANCE OF
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Situational awareness is the ability to identify,
process and comprehend information about how
to survive in an emergency situation. More simply,
it’s knowing what is going on around you. It is dy-
namic, hard to maintain, and easy to lose. Knowing
what is going on all the time is very di cult for any
one person, especially during a high stress survival
situation. Therefore, it is helpful to know what
behaviors are e ective in maintaining situational
awareness. Here are a few ways you can improve
your situational awareness today before you need
it in a survival situation:
1. Learn to Predict Events
The most e ective aspect of situational awareness
involves the ability to project the future actions of
elements around you. After you have been able to
identify elements in your environment and can
comprehend the situation, it is time to take your
situational awareness one step further. Use this in-
formation to think ahead and determine how it may
a ect future actions and events in the environment.
2. Identify Elements Around You
Become aware of the important elements in your
environment. Start by noticing potential threats
around you. Then expand your awareness to other
non-threatening elements. This is the most basic
level of situational awareness where you begin to
monitor, detect and recognize multiple situational
elements. These include objects, events, people and
environmental factors. Basic situational awareness
also requires you to notice the locations, conditions
and actions of the elements around you. This may
sound overwhelming, but don’t worry. These are
skills you already use on a daily basis. The rst step
is designed to help you expand and improve your
perception of what is happening around you.
3. Trust Your Feelings
Disorder within your family or a gut feeling that
things are not right can cause you to lose proper
situational awareness. This clue is one of the most
reliable because the body is able to detect stimuli
long before we have consciously put it all together.
4. Limit Situational Overload
Overload causes distraction, increased errors, and
high stress. Prioritizing and delegating tasks and
minimizing surrounding distractions can improve
survival during times of overload.
5. Avoid Complacency
Assuming everything is under control will a ect
your vigilance. You have to actively keep yourself
in the right mindset. When things are slow or tasks
are routine, complacency usually occurs. The worst
part is the slow creep of complacency is hardly ever
noticed except in hindsight. Continue to challenge
yourself and those around you to be prepared for
contingencies. Do a mental check now and then.
6. Be Aware of Time
Time is an important factor in mastering situation-
al awareness. The pace of your environment is con-
stantly being changed by the actions of individuals,
task characteristics and outside elements. When
unplanned events begin to arise, be sure to make
the necessary changes to your schedule and goals.
7. Evaluate and Understand Situations
The next step in involves understanding multiple
elements through the processes of pattern recog-
nition, interpretation and evaluation. Use this
information to determine how it will a ect your
goals or in this case your ultimate survival. This
will help you build a comprehensive picture of your
immediate surroundings and a better understand-
ing of situational awareness.
8. Actively Prevent Fatigue
Fatigue a ects your ability to watch for possible
danger or di culties. Try adjusting your routine
and imposing sleep discipline to prevent wake
cycles longer than 18 hours. Make sure you get at
least ve and preferably eight hours of sound sleep
per day to minimize sleep deprivation.
9. Continually Assess the Situation
When you are in a survival situation, always be pre-
pared for changes around you. Continually assess
and reassess the situation to determine if you are
giving yourself the best possible outcome. Learn
what nature, the land, and new tasks are telling
you before you nd yourself in a di cult situation.
10. Monitor Performance of Others
Be alert for changes in the performance of those
around you caused by work overload, stress and
mistakes. When changes are needed, take action
by speaking up and helping out. A weak link in
your family could be the di erence between your
success or failure.
