Transcript Crisis Communications for School Officials

The Four Phases of Emergency
Management Best-Practices Model
Prevention/
Mitigation
Preparedness
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Response
Recovery
Chris Dorn
Safe Havens International
©January 2, 2006
An IRS approved non-profit school safety center
Does your plan fit with best practices
models?
The United States Department of Education, Jane’s and Safe Havens
International all recommend a four phase, all hazards plan that is locally
tailored and developed with the following components:
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Prevention/Mitigation
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
Each phase is part of a cycle that continuously repeats itself, and a
proper crisis plan will incorporate each phase into a separate section.
Individual types of crises are dealt with within this framework, and not
as standalone planes (for example, you do not need a “Terrorism
Plan”, but terrorism should be dealt with as part of the overall plan).
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Prevention/Mitigation
The purpose of this section is to reduce the harmful effects of an
incident & lessen the need for a response in the event that a crisis
does occur. This means that a school should do everything they
can to prevent hazards from happening while understanding that
some crises may occur despite our best preparation (such as
natural disasters and acts of terrorism). While we will do our best
to keep these incidents from occurring, we must realistically
prepare for them so that when a crisis does occur, minimal
damage and loss of life occurs.
This section deals with:
• Facilities
• Security
• Culture & Climate
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Examples of Prevention/Mitigation
Measures Include:
• Proper access control, which can guard against:
– Non-custodial parental abductions
– Child molesters
– Gang/Drug Violence
• Thorough background checks:
– All employees/volunteers should be screened
– Without a fingerprint, a background check is useless
– Police background checks should be used (out of state
convictions and dropped charges are often missed in
commercial checks)
• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
- Emphasizes Natural Surveillance
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More Prevention Measures:
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Good physical security
Increased surveillance of high risk areas
School safety zone measures
Ability to increase Law Enforcement activities in the
event of a crisis
• Visual/mechanical weapons screening
• Good computer/information/route security
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Preparedness
This phase addresses the investment of time &
resources to ensure a rapid, coordinated and effective
response in the event of a crisis.
To develop this section of the plan you should:
• Identify all stakeholders in the community (Local
churches, businesses, media, etc.)
• Develop communication methods
• Prepare a method to obtain equipment & supplies
quickly in the event of a crisis
• Organize maps & building information
• Develop student release procedures for crisis
situations
• Practice, practice, practice
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Preparedness Issues
Does your plan cover Chemical, Biological and Radiological
incidents separately? (They are not all dealt with in the
same way)
Internalize local resources and experts:
– Emergency Management
– Law Enforcement
– Fire
– Medical Services
– Mental Health
– Local Companies
Verify the background of all consultants you utilize
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Response
This phase ensures that you follow the Preparedness plan in the
midst of a crisis when details are easy to forget. The components
of this section are designed to remind you of your role during a
crisis and keep track of tasks so that they are not overlooked, and
also to record what is done by whom at what time for later analysis.
This portion of the plan may include tools such as:
– Checklists
– Logs
– Flip Charts
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Recovery
This section is a written plan to guide mental health
and business recovery for all affected (not just the
direct victims). It is important to continue with
“business as usual” to help those affected recover and
return to normalcy. It is also extremely important to
monitor anyone directly or indirectly affected for
emotional distress after a crisis – more have died from
suicide as a result of the Columbine High School
shooting than were actually killed on the day of the
shooting.
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Your plan will probably fail if:
• You bought or copied it
• It was written for you, particularly if a consultant that does
not have an emergency management background wrote it
• You only have a flip or bubble chart
• It is not an all hazards plan
• It was not developed with the input of local emergency
response officials
• It was not standardized district-wide and then customized for
each facility
• It has not been externally evaluated
• It has not been tested by a series of exercises
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Emergency Operations
Planning Considerations
• Are transportation personnel involved with
planning/training/exercises?
• Does your plan cover:
– Explosions and bomb threats?
– HAZMAT/WMD situations?
– Active shooter/hostage situations?
– Mass contamination incidents?
– Mass decontamination of children?
– Resumption of “normal” activities?
• Have ALL staff been trained on their role in the plan?
• Has the plan been thoroughly tested? (this is a neverending process)
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For more information and resources:
The United States Department of Education released a guide to the
four-phase best practices model for emergency planning. It is
available free of charge along with other resources at:
www.ed.gov/emergencyplan
Jane’s Information Group worked with Safe Havens International to
produce a comprehensive 450 page guide to the entire process of
school crisis planning, and it remains the definitive work on the
subject. Jane’s Safe Schools Planning Guide for All Hazards is
available for purchase in the Safe Havens Online Store.
If you ever have any questions about school safety or emergency
operations planning for schools, please do not hesitate to contact us
by e-mail at [email protected] or by using our Contact Form.
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