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Building Emergency Coordinators

Building Emergency Coordinator Red Vest

Program overview

The Building Emergency Coordinator (BEC) program was established to coordinate the emergency preparedness and planning efforts among all Virginia Tech buildings.

Many campus buildings are occupied by multiple departments, making building-wide communications and coordination difficult during normal operations, let alone during an emergency. The BEC program serves to assist building occupants, first responders, and Emergency Management by developing a common building-specific plan of action for life safety emergencies and developing a common, building-wide plan of action for emergencies that threaten life safety.

Building emergency coordinators serve as an extension of Emergency Management in the preparedness, response, and recovery phases of an emergency. They not only add value to the building community by serving in this position, but also to the overall university.

BEC roles and responsibilities

BECs work with Emergency Management to disseminate pertinent emergency preparedness information and plans throughout their building. In addition, they provide emergency responders with a single, knowledgeable point of contact who can assist in contacting appropriate departmental personnel and officials in case of an emergency.

Ideally a building emergency coordinator should plan on serving a term of no less than a year with no limit to the number of consecutive terms. BECs are expected to provide multiple forms of contact, including methods reachable outside of normal business hours. The Alternate Building Emergency Coordinator (ABEC) should fulfill a similar role.

Building emergency coordinators also facilitate emergency preparedness in their building by coordinating the Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC).

Need help?

For information on Virginia Tech’s Building Emergency Coordinator program, contact Virginia Tech Emergency Management at 540-231-4873 or oem@vt.edu

For additional information about using the BEC Portal, please see our Building Annex Plan - Portal Instructional Guide

BEC FAQ

BEC Frequently Asked Questions 

Review some of our most-asked questions about the role of a BEC.

BEC Operations Guide

BEC Operations Guide 

Download and print the full guide to a BEC's roles and responsibilities.

Building emergency coordinator symposium

BEC Annual
Training 

Learn more about the yearly training opportunities for BECs and ABECs.