Docking with the International Space Station was out of the question. There is not enough fuel in the Orbital Manuvering Units to change the orbit that much. Docking with the ISS requires a launch with that intent.
The ISS should have sufficient rescue pods for an entire shuttle crew, and the ISS crew.
They should have sufficient "life boat" capacity for the anticipated crew load including shift change... or they will suffer from the "Titanic Syndrone." Escape pods for the Shuttles was considered and rejected for reasons of cost and payload capacity: If they were included in the design, the system would not have worked.