Hello
Welcome to the May edition of Emergency Management Solutions.
Memorial Day has a very special meaning for any of us who have served. We've all lost friends we cared about, sometimes through service and sometimes just through life changes. I invite you to join me in raising a glass to absent comrades.
This month Tim Riecker offers some thoughts on an important piece of proposed federal legislation, the Emergency Management Support Act. This legislation could have a profound impact on local emergency management, so please take a moment to read the full article. In addition, Erik Bernstein provides us with a short but comprehensive primary on crisis management: what it is, why it's important, and how you can use it. My own article shares some thoughts on your emergency plan and why it might not be as effective as you think.
Be well!
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Canton on Emergency Management
By Lucien G. Canton, CEM
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Who’s Going to Use Your Plan?
Over my thirty-plus years as an emergency manager I’ve had the opportunity to review numerous emergency plans from a variety of organizations, ranging from small communities and federal agencies in the public sector to private sector companies in a variety of industries. After a while you notice a sameness to them, not surprising as most organizations follow the one-size-fits-all guidance from the federal government. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not against standardization per se and have even encouraged it in many cases. However, many of the plans I’ve reviewed seem to have a common feature: they will be largely useless in an actual crisis.
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© 2023 - Lucien G. Canton
Lucien Canton is a management consultant specializing in helping managers lead better in a crisis. He is the former Director of Emergency Services for San Francisco and the author of the best-selling Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs used as a textbook in many higher education courses.
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The Contrarian Emergency Manager
By Timothy "Tim" Riecker
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The Emergency Management Support Act
As of the authoring of this post, the full language of the bill is not yet available on Congress.gov, though a summary is available here. In the summary, there are three components identified:
- Direct States, through the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG), to require local emergency management directors to complete emergency management training within one year after the enactment of the bill
- Require local emergency management directors to complete recurrent training with certifications to be submitted to FEMA annually
- Require FEMA to report to Congress on compliance with this Act
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© 2023 - Timothy Riecker, CEDP
Used with Permission
Tim Riecker is a founding member, partner and principal consultant with Emergency Preparedness Solutions, LLC, a private consulting firm serving government, businesses, and not for profit organizations in various aspects of emergency and disaster preparedness.
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Bernstein Crisis Management
by Erik Bernstein
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Crisis Management Explained: A Comprehensive Guide
Crisis management is a crucial aspect of running a successful organization. In today’s unpredictable and rapidly changing world, businesses must be prepared to handle unexpected events that can disrupt their normal operations, harm their reputation, or threaten their survival. This comprehensive guide will explore the various aspects of crisis management, including its definition, the importance of having a crisis management plan, the different types of crises organizations may face, and the key steps to create an effective crisis management plan.
What is Crisis Management?
Crisis management refers to an organization’s process- and strategy-based approach for identifying, preparing for, and responding to threats, unanticipated events, or any negative disruptions with the potential to harm people, property, or business processes. The primary objective of crisis management is to minimize the impact of these events and ensure the safety and well-being of all stakeholders, while maintaining business continuity and protecting the organization’s assets and reputation.
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© 2023 - Erik Bernstein
Used with permission
Erik Bernstein is President of Bernstein Crisis Management, a specialized firm dedicated to providing holistic strategies for managing crisis situations.
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Lee Clarke: Disaster and the Human Response
From the economic collapse to the tsunami in Fukushima, disasters bring out a variety of behaviors in human beings. Author Lee Clarke joins Steve Paikin to discuss why we might act in self-interest or altruistic ways when faced with the worst-case scenario.
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FEMA Announces Additional Webinars on the NIMS Information and Communications Technology Functional Guidance
Due to a high level of interest, FEMA announces two additional webinars to introduce the new National Incident Management System (NIMS) Information and Communications Technology Functional Guidance (ICT Functional Guidance). Published in March 2023, the ICT Functional Guidance provides a framework that incorporates ICT services into the Incident Command System (ICS) to meet the increasing demands and expectations for ICT capabilities.
The webinars will provide all participants with an overview of the new guidance to support its rollout. This includes an overview of new guidance for the ICT function and the ICT Branch.
To register for one of the webinars, use the links below. Registration for each webinar is limited to 100 participants.
- July 27, 2023, 2:00 – 3:00 ET
- August 17, 2023, 2:00 – 3:00 ET
Free Webinar Series
The Natural Hazards Center, in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is pleased to present the Making Mitigation Work Webinar Series. These free one-hour webinars feature innovative speakers and highlight progress in mitigation policy, practice, and research.
Save the dates for future Making Mitigation Work webinars:
June 13, 2023, 11:00 a.m. to Noon MST
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Professional Development Opportunities |
National Emergency Training Center (NETC) Emmitsburg, Maryland
June 5-7, 2023
Connecting our Past with our Future: Celebrating Community Impact through 25 Years of the FEMA Higher Education Symposium
Broomfield, Colorado
July 9-12, 2023
More information to follow!
November 3-9, 2023
Long Beach, CA
The goal of the IAEM Annual Conference is to improve the knowledge, competency level and collaborative skills of attendee.
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Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination
by Lee Clarke
Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct.
We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals—like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy—are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, have actually become too rare: only when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings will it take worst cases as seriously as it should.
A timely and necessary look into how we think about the unthinkable, Worst Cases will be must reading for anyone attuned to our current climate of threat and fear.
About the Author
Lee Clarke, Rutgers University, is author of "Mission Improbable" and "Worst Cases," both from the University of Chicago Press. He is often invited to speak about leadership, culture, disaster, and organizational and technological failures; he consults with corporations, government agencies, and research foundations.
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Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs
Second Edition
by Lucien G. Canton
This book looks at the larger context within which emergency management response occurs, and stresses the development of a program to address a wide range of issues. Not limited to traditional emergency response to natural disasters, it addresses a conceptual model capable of integrating multiple disciplines and dealing with unexpected emergencies.
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Looking for a speaker for your conference? I offer keynotes, seminars, workshops, and webinars, either in person or virtually. You can find more details and sample videos on my website. |
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©Lucien G. Canton 2023. All rights reserved.
You may reprint and excerpt this newsletter provided that you include my copyright, the source,
the author, and "reprinted with permission."
ISSN: 2334-590X
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