Updates to Overhead Announcements

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Jan 2, 2020 | Rebecca Hynes | @hynesrebecca

Effective January 6, 2020, Emergency Management and Business Continuity has announced Mayo Clinic Health System and Mayo Clinic will transition from code language to plain language overhead announcements. This change is to better serve patients and staff. In conjunction with this, Mayo Clinic is also changing “Code 45” to “Code Blue” to standardize with the industry and the institution.

As staff, we received this communication earlier this week and are still gathering more details about the change. Once we receive updates, we will share additional information with you and revise all resource materials.

The new announcements are designed to be easily understood by everyone. What we can share with you is that the overhead announcements will state the category, type and location of the alert followed by specific instructions about what action to take.

The categories, with types of announcements and examples in plain language, are:

Building alerts

Alerts in this category include:

• "Evacuation"
• "Fire Alarm"
• "Shelter in Place"
• "Work Area Relocation"

For example, you may hear a building alert like this: "Building alert: Fire Alarm, Siebens Building, Subway Level, Room 102B." This will be followed with instruction on how to respond.

Medical alerts

Alerts in this category include:

• "Code Blue"
• "Code Blue Pediatric"
• "Mass Injury Incident"
• "Multiple Injury Incident"

For example, you may hear a medical alert like this: "Medical alert: Mass Injury Incident — Assigned staff report to your designated location." This will be followed with instruction on how to respond.

Security alerts

Alerts in this category include:

• "Active Shooter"
• "Hostile Threat"
• "Missing Infant"
• "Missing Person"
• "Suspicious Package"

For example, you may hear a security alert like this: "Security alert: Missing Person — Gonda 8." This will be followed with instruction on how to respond.

Utility alerts

Alerts in this category include:

• "IT Outage"
• "Telephone Outage"

For example, you may hear a utility alert like this: "Utility alert: Telephone Outage — Eisenberg Building." This will be followed with instruction on how to respond.

Weather alerts

Alerts in this category include:

• "Tornado Warning"
• "Winter Weather/Blizzard Warning"

For example, you may hear a weather alert like this: "Weather alerts: Tornado Warning — Olmsted County." This will be followed with instruction on how to respond.

If you have any questions, please contact your campus manager. We are grateful for all that you do to help keep patients, visitors and staff safe.