Emergency Response Plan

Tragic events that cause damage to property and life may destroy the social, cultural and economic life of a community. Communities must be engaged in the various phases from prevention to recovery to build disaster resilient communities. In order to do this, there must be a disaster preparedness plan in place that involves multiple people in various roles.

An emergency operations plan for the community in which we live is a document of great importance to each of us whether we know it or not. This paper examines the emergency action plan for Knoxville, Tennessee. In the course of the examination, it will compare and analyze the plan for Knoxville with the standards set forth in the textbook for this course along with other recognized sources in the field of emergency management.

The presentation will cover several areas dealing with the university’s ability to prepare for an emergency or catastrophic event. The areas covered include:

In day to day operations, uncertainties do occur. Henceforth it would be important to have a contingent and well detailed disaster preparedness plan and procedures. Healthcare systems, on a day to day basis, are faced with emergencies in form of disasters. As a result, majority of medical centers have well-structured exit plans in the event of a disaster occurring("Hospital Disaster Preparedness: Your Guide to Getting Started - Emergency Preparedness", 2011). However, this essay will aim at interviewing one of the top disaster preparedness staffat the Houston Methodist Hospital. In the interview, I will seek to identify the top three disasters that the Houston Methodist Hospital is prepared for. Similarly, in the interview, I would seek to identify the top lessons learnt from disaster preparedness at the hospitals.As it concludes it would summarize the findings with regards to the interview stated below. Below is an excerpt from the interview to answer the two aforementioned questions.

During the crisis at Memorial, doctors and nurses had to find ways of quickly and efficiently moving ill patients when “the hurricane knocked out power and running water and sent the temperatures inside above 100 degrees” (Fink 1). If these nurses, doctors and staff were given an evacuation plan before the storm, they could have practiced it and would not have had to spontaneously make up a plan that no one was familiar with. During college students are always roaming campus and are vulnerable to terrible events happening, this real world situation at Memorial has definitely shown me that anything can happen and there should be plans arranged for each situation whether it is a snowstorm or a gunman on campus. Two main topics that popped up when I read Deadly Choices at Memorial were to always have a plan and work well in teams; if there ever were a shooter on campus, students should be aware and know of the safety plan and work together to make sure everyone was

Even with the presence of the recent shooting in Florida, the entire culture of school security has transformed since the 1999 Columbine school shooting. The Columbine massacre was the time when two teens opened fire on other students, killing 13people and injuring more than 20 others before shooting themselves and committing suicide. It was the worst high school shooting in the United States history and initiated a national discussion on gun control and school safety. Since then, the issue of gun violence and school shooting has dominated school safety concern. Also, the incidence initiated a revolution to the school security measures. Todays, schools are far more secure than

Several committees were created such as the University Safety and Security Policy Committee, Campus Violence Prevention Committee, and the University Emergency Management and Risk Assessment Committee. The University Safety and Security Policy Committee was responsible for duties such as reviewing, evaluating, and determining requirements concerning safety and security assessments, plans, programs, and education including changes that may affect the quality of the university’s living, learning and working environment (VT, 2010). The Campus Violence Prevention Committee is responsible for conducting annual reviews to identify potential or existing risks, including gathering and analyzing reports and data to identify high-risk departments, activities or locations (VT, 2010). Lastly, the

Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18.

There are people who seek destruction and to harm students as much as possible. Therefore, schools take these precautions to assure that students know what to do when in a time of crisis. Information like this should be much more easily accessible. Overall the SFASU campus safety policies and website are viable for the student on campus and off campus; however, it could be more publicized, that way all students know what to do and what not to do in the case of an emergency. Colleges and universities could easily do this by implementing mandatory safety and training courses to ensure the safety of their students while they are attending their school. This is extremely important so that way students feel safe and can casually recommend SFASU as a safe and educated school for to anyone who ask, showing that there is safety for all

School shootings have been around since 1764, and have since then gone worse over time. The first school shooting happened during the Pontiac's war in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Since then there has been eighteen school shootings a year. A question that always comes up when these tragic events happen is “What can be done to prevent this from happening again?” One “solution” that always comes up is increasing security within the schools. Recently there was a shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, located in Parkland, Florida. After this shooting occurred the school decided to install metal detectors and have students wear clear backpacks around campus. This action ended with many angry students and a negative environment, when school should

Emergency management faces many challenges in today’s modern society. In the years prior to 9/11 emergency management was primarily focused on natural disasters. That has since changed; we now face a diverse variety of risks and hazards on a constant basis. As we continue to grow in population current and newer have compounded into more problems that emergency planner must face and find solutions for.

Approximately 55 million children are enlisted in the U.S. educational system, split into 17,000 public school attendants and 29,000 private school members (Council on School Health, 2008). The need for school emergency planning has been recognized for a long time, but until the last few decades, attention fell solely on preparing for natural disasters such as fires, tornadoes, and earthquakes. However, due to a series of heavily mediated school shootings starting with the late 1990s, efforts increased considerably to cover the need for school emergency planning and the importance of coordinated disaster response to a school-located mass casualty incident (Graham et al, 2006).

Emergency Response planning should target to address the worst case scenarios (Ernst, Oct 4, 2006). As mentioned earlier, the first step in developing an emergency response plan is to conduct a risk assessment and identifying all the potential emergency scenarios (Department of Homeland Security, Emergency Response Plan). Scenarios must be site-specific, credible and be able to have the ability to test the responsiveness to the incidents (Developing Credible Scenarios for Emergency Response Planning). There are three main types of scenario exercises; Discussion based, Table top and Live. Refer to the web article: “Table Top Planning Scenarios” (A Preservation Planning Tool: Table Top Planning Scenarios, Level of Collections Emergency, Webpage)

In the 2010-2011 school year only 39% of schools in the US took steps towards school safety in the school and around the community. The worry of schools and its safety rates started when people from the community around schools that had problems with the school or personal problems started to harm the school. The school shootings that occurred like Columbine in 1999 and Virginia Tech in 2007 and the more relevant shooting Sandy Hook in 2012 all happened because of the failure to safe schools. In 1193 President Bill Clinton signed the Gun-Free School Act, a zero-tolerance gun law. This law required was required in all schools throughout the US. Security measures in schools are essential in order to protect students, lower violence, and keep

An effective crisis management response plan outlines specific procedures for administrator, teachers, and students during evacuation emergencies. Administrators work with teachers, students, parents, law enforcement officers, business and community members, to develop an effective emergency and crises plan. The administrator provides leadership in developing and monitoring the school safety plan and also establishes procedures for emergency evacuation and crisis management at different stages of the plan. However, an effective leader develops a comprehensive prevention education plan, and regularly reviews the code of conduct manual for revisions and current laws.