As part of every school's emergency preparedness program, a classroom lockdown safety kit should be included in the supplies of each classroom.
The Need for Safety Lockdown Kits in Schools
As more acts of violence target schools, the need for safety lockdown kits in every classroom becomes clear. Whether the violence is initiated by a student or intruder within the school, an armed person outside the building or the threat of a terrorist attack in the vicinity, school officials must be prepared to keep their students safe.
Classroom lockdown kits are also important in the event of natural disasters. Depending on the area where you live, school emergency preparations may include keeping students in their classrooms to keep them safe. These types of natural disasters include:
- Hurricanes
- Earthquakes
- Floods
- Tornadoes
- Severe storms
Following a natural disaster the area may be left without electrical power, immediate road access or fresh drinking water.
What is Included in a Classroom Safety Lockdown Kit
When danger or disaster is eminent, a safety lockdown kit for the classroom provides each student with the essentials they need for a period of three days or 72 hours. Most of the companies that offer school survival lockdown kits have two different versions, basic and deluxe.
Basic Classroom Lockdown Kit
A basic lockdown kit generally includes emergency survival supplies for an average size classroom of 30 students. Since most classrooms do not contain their own bathroom, lockdown kits also include a portable toilet. Although lockdown kits differ slightly from company to company, the following is an example of the contents of a basic, or standard, kit from Survival Goods.
- A five gallon bucket that stores all of the supplies and doubles as a portable toilet
- A toilet seat which doubles as the lid to the bucket for storage
- Two toilet bags complete with chemicals
- Roll of toilet paper
- A bottle of hand sanitizer
- Hygienic wet naps - usually a package of 100
- Air freshener
- Roll of duct tape
- A plastic tarp
- A small First Aid kit
- 10 water purification tablets
- Emergency bright stick
Deluxe Classroom Lockdown Kit
The deluxe lockdown kit from Survival First Gear, includes all of the items that are included in the basic kit plus the following:
- 30 individual packages of water
- Five calorie food bars which total 2,400 calories each (a total of 12,000 calories). Each food bar consists of 6 individually wrapped bars that a specially made to have a five-year shelf life.
- 5-in1 survival whistle
- A flashlight with a cell phone charger, a siren and an AM/FM radio
- 5 pairs of latex-free gloves
- A deck of playing cards
Where to Find Safety Lockdown Kits for Classrooms
Most safety lockdown kits for schools are offered by companies that sell emergency preparedness supplies, survival items and safety kits for individual and family needs, businesses and organizations. There are also emergency survival kits for pets. The Internet has many companies that offer classroom lockdown kits and other safety survival supplies. The following is a small sampling of these websites.
- iPrepare offers an emergency classroom lockdown kit.
- More Prepared offers a basic and deluxe classroom lockdown kit, individual school survival and school emergency kits for children and a portable safety kit in a backpack on wheels. More Prepared also provides a printable emergency checklist and an emergency preparedness guides for home or car.
- Emergency and Disaster Supplies
Making sure that each classroom, from preschool through college, contains a classroom lockdown safety kit is one aspect of school emergency preparedness. Each member of the community, from parents and teachers to administrators and security guards, share the responsibility of keeping schools safe.
