As the parish and workplace safety coordinator for our diocese, I have been presented with many opportunities and challenges. Protecting the flock is an opportunity that contains many challenges. Due to the increased violence within today’s society combined with aging demographics, it has become imperative to increase the level of protection we provide to our children, mothers, fathers, volunteers, employees and priests. The challenge of improving safety within our dioceses and parishes has to come from many fronts — from priests, parishioners and parish staffs. Too many people are looking at safety with blinders on. For example, I have heard, on more than one occasion, that it will never happen here. Well, it has happened here. Our diocese has experienced disruptions in Masses and threats to parishioners in the form of posts on social media.

Because of the increasing safety concerns and the aging population within our diocese, I must do everything that I can to protect the flock by improving parish safety. I have taken many hours of safety training and attended multiple workshops on safety. The many hours spent on these learning opportunities have provided me with the knowledge needed to establish two new diocesan safety policies. One policy requires that all parishes must create a parish safety team. This team must hold regular meetings and must create a safety plan for their parish. The safety plan should be focused on four pillars of safety: protection of physical property protection; medical safety; safety during natural disasters; and safety from assailants.

Physical Property

Protection of physical property should involve the maintenance personnel at the parish. They should conduct regular facility inspections, verify surveillance video equipment is in good working order, schedule annual fire extinguisher checks and test emergency lighting systems throughout the buildings. All exits should be labeled on both the inside and outside of each door.

A visitor protocol and procedure for the parish offices should be established and approved by the pastor. These protocols should limit the number of entrances that visitors can use to gain access to the buildings. A sign-in sheet should be kept at these entrances. No visitors should be allowed access without an escort. The escorts should also walk the visitors out of the building upon completion of their visit. There should be a log of distributed keys that should be checked after all staffing changes. This process will ensure that only current employees have key-entry access to all buildings. The safety team should know where the salt is stored in case of ice buildup on the sidewalks during Mass. They should also have access to the janitor’s closet should the entranceways need to be mopped from the snow melt. Safety-team members should lock most of the push bar doors within the church once Mass has begun.

Medical Safety

Medical safety is the most likely concern that a parish will have to deal with. Therefore, developing strong safety procedures should be a high priority when establishing a plan in this area. Pastors should try to recruit doctors, nurses or EMTs to join the safety team. The parishes and parish halls should be equipped with a first aid kit, trauma kit and an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). A log sheet should accompany every AED to track the status of the battery and the expiration date of the AED pads. Although it is not a requirement within the state of Ohio because of the Good Samaritan law, all safety-team members should receive first aid, CPR and AED training.

The safety team should invite the local fire department, EMTs and police to visit the campus to familiarize themselves with the buildings. An emergency contact phone listing should be created and placed in a common area within each building.

Safety-team members should be trained in the following procedures when contacting EMTs for any emergency:

Identify the incident with as many details as possible. Provide the closest entrance to the accident. Labeling all the entrances will make this task much easier. Inviting these three emergency services to tour the building will also help to expedite services when needed within the buildings. One safety-team member should stay with the person requiring assistance while another team member meets the EMTs at the door to escort them to the person in need. If necessary, another team member can retrieve the trauma kit to apply necessary treatment required.

COVID-19 prevention and sanitation procedures should be documented, reviewed and revised as needed.

Natural Disaster Safety

Safety during natural disasters is the second most likely safety concern that a parish may experience. Tornado shelter areas should be established and labeled within our churches, schools, parish halls, parish offices and rectories. Parishioners should be made aware of the shelter areas and a review of the fire evacuation plan should be completed annually. There should also be a tornado plan and fire evacuation plan developed specifically for the office staff, which should be reviewed and practiced at least once a year.

All diocesan schools are required by state law to have an evacuation drill within the first 10 days of the start of a new school year and at least one evacuation drill each month of the school year. Schools are also required to conduct a tornado drill at least once a month during tornado season. A school safety drill is another requirement to address safety concerns such as an active shooter and/or other safety threats.

Safety from Assailants

Safety from assailants is the last and least likely to occur at our parishes, but the possibility of an incident still needs to be addressed by safety teams at each parish. Safety teams need to be present at each weekend and holy day Mass. The safety team should be equipped with state-of-the-art radios with earpieces so that Mass is not disturbed when team members are communicating among themselves.

Our diocese has implemented a one-time safety reimbursement program to help parishes with the costs of any safety improvements.

Safety-team members should arrive one-half hour before the start of services to discuss the positioning of team members. One team member should be positioned outside of the church in the church parking lot because approximately 75% of all incidents occur outside the church.

Specific Procedures

Parishioners should be made aware of the existence of the safety team. Parishioners should also be made aware of the closest exits in case of any assailant intrusions. The parishioners should also be made aware of diocesan-recommended procedures for when dealing with an assailant. This procedure is listed below:

Get Out. Evacuate as soon as possible; if this is not possible, find a place to hide where the active assailant is less likely to see you. Turn cell phones on silent mode to help prevent detection. During the evacuation, make sure to leave belongings behind and when exiting always keep your hands visible in case the police arrive during the evacuation. Once safely out of harm’s way, call 911.

Lock Out. Lock out the assailant from the area. This is why we recommend locking most of the doors to the church once services have begun — in case of an incident there would be less doors to lock.

Take Out. As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to incapacitate the assailant. This can be done in many ways, such as throwing hymnals at the assailant, using the fire extinguisher as a weapon. Belts, shoes or any other items nearby can be an effective way to disrupt the assailant.

Policies will be monitored by our parish auditors as part of our diocesan audit process. Any major deficiencies will be reported to my office and addressed immediately. These policies and audits will help to improve safety for my flock. 

MIKE TERLECKI is the parish and workplace safety coordinator at the Diocese of Youngstown.

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Resources from Catholic Mutual Group

Catholic Mutual Group’s “Parish Safety and Security Guide” encourages parishes to develop a safety/security committee. The teaching guide provides tips and directions on setting up a committee and devising a plan. The guide can be accessed at catholicmutual.org/external-links/Final-Book-Electronic.pdf.

The Catholic Mutual Connection, at catholicmutual.org/en-us/newsletters.aspx, offers several newsletters that focus on parish security issues, including cybersecurity threats, fire prevention, playground safety, active shooter, candle safety, and more.

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