2021 Emergency Management COPY Flashcards

1
Q

List and describe the steps in the Emergency Management cycle

A

Prevention:

  • Activities and programs that prevent a potential emergency from occurring
  • This phase is usually the focus of public health activities
  • The HIRA underlies emergency planning, bridging between prevention and mitigation

Mitigation

  • Activities and programs that reduce the impact of an emergency on a community; can occur before, during, or after an event

Preparedness

  • Activities and programs that prepare individuals, organizations, or communities for an efficient emergency response; occurs before an event; best practices in preparedness include:
  1. System checks
  2. Emergency Response plans: The ERP bridges between the preparedness and response phases
  3. Training and exercises

Response

  • Activities and programs that address the immediate effects of an emergency
  • Public health is not typically a first responders; first responders usually include fire, police, and paramedics; hospitals are first receivers
  • The COOP bridges between the response and recovery phases by promoting the return to normal operations

Recovery

  • Activities and programs that restore a community to an acceptable condition; typically the longest phase of the emergency management cycle
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2
Q

Name 7 principles of the Incident Management System (IMS)

A
  1. Modular: Composed of discrete but interrelated components
  2. Interoperable: The functional and technological ability for responders from different jurisdictions and organizations to work together (e.g., by sharing the same procedures and communications technologies)
  3. Standardized: Shared management structures and terminology
  4. Simple: Elements are eliminated when no longer needed
  5. Unity of command: Each person, at every level, reports to only one clearly designated supervisor
  6. Integrated communications
  7. Flexible and scalable: Can be expanded to address any size of incident; a single person can act alone as an the entire incident management system (i.e., if one person is sufficient to address all needs, then there is no need to establish a command or general staff); as needs change, system can be scaled up
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3
Q

What are the differences between the Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) ?

A

Emergency Response Plan (ERP)

  • Definition: Plan that defines the initiation and conduction of an emergency response; defines how the organization mobilizes to address an emergency (outward-looking)
  • outward-facing – ie ERP outlines the ways in which an organization will engage with the community or other organizations during an emergency (e.g. services that will be offered)

Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)

  • Definition: Plan that defines how organizational interests will be protected and essential operations will be sustained during an emergency (aka business continuity plan);
  • defines how an organization mobilizes to sustain its essential functions during an emergency (inward-looking)
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4
Q

List three examples of common COOP scenarios?

A
  • Strike contingency planning
  • Loss of access to a facility
  • Loss of services due to equipment or system failure
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5
Q

Describe the steps of a COOP with regards to a contingency strike?

A

Case study: Contingency strike

  • Identify and prioritize critical functions of the organization
  • Identify the minimum number of staff and the minimum skill set required to maintain the critical functions (can these functions be temporarily filled by management? contractors?)
  • Determine how the organization will proceed with non-critical functions during a strike (e.g., temporarily cease the function, reduce function)
  • Develop strategies to reduce the impact of the strike on critical functions (e.g., alternative work locations, site closures)
  • Develop strategies to address the following during the strike:
  • Security (e.g., how will you ensure safety of staff who continue to come to work?)
  • Staff redeployment
  • Replacement workers/contractors
  • Picket line monitoring
  • Communication (external and internal)
  • IT (e.g., can striking staff access their voicemail, e-mail, etc.?)
  • Payroll
  • Human resources
  • Based on steps 1-5, write a strike contingency plan
  • Train management staff to deploy the strike contingency plan
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6
Q

What are some key compoents of an Emergency Response Plan?

A
  • Authority to activate and deactive the plan
  • Threshold level/trigger points to activate and deactivate the plan
  • Roles & responsibility of members of the Emergency Control Group
  • Structures, processes, tools to be used during the emergency
  • Communication process regard internal staff notification, public crisis communication and external partner notification
  • Coordination with other agencies e.g. Ministry of Health Emergency Operations Centre
  • Health and Safety of employees
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7
Q

What are the differences betwen a Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment, a Health Risk Assessment, and Health Impact Assessment?

A

HIRA: A risk assessment tool for organizations/communities to plan for emergency. HIRA aims to identify hazards that pose the greatest risk to a community/organization, both in terms of probability of occurrence and severity of impact, and visually displaying the findings in a matrix for planning purposes. HIRA involves hazard identification, risk assessment, risk analysis, and regular monitoring and reviewing HIRA.

Remember Hazard = source of danger and risk = probability of occurance x impact

Health Risk Assessment: A tool to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative risk posed to human health and/or the environment by the actual or potential presence and/or use of specific pollutants. Can be done before exposure occur but often done after exposure occur. Health Risk assessment includes hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment, and finally risk characterization.

Health Impact Assessment: A tool to evaluate the impacts of a proposed policy, program, or service on the health of a population. HIA most frequently applied to assess proposed policy/program/service that are outside of the traditional health care sector and which do not target health as their principla goal. 5 steps: Screening –>Scoping –> Appraising –>Reporting –> Monitoring

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8
Q

What are the roles of public health in emergency management?

A

1) Surveillance (Early detection of events)
2) Investigation (Epidemiological and lab)
3) Risk communication (inform, education and empower people)
4) Mobilize community partnership
5) Making evidence-based recommendations to policy makers
6) Mass Immunization/PEP
7) Command and control and enforcement of laws in health-related emergency such as COVID19 pandemic

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