Disaster Response Planning

[aka Bull]

Hopefully I word this topic in a proprer enough fashion to get a few questions across without getting too specific. Please don't get specific in any response about the facility you now (or in the past for that matter) work at - I don't think we want to give any operational insight to any potential bad guys (heck, I sound like George Bush now ).

This week we had out monthly mandatory department meeting. The topic was our Incident Response System for disaster response. In discussing different disasters we plan for the topic of a pandemic level disaster was brought out and discussed.

My questions are: Does your facility have disaster plans in effect for various disaster scenarios (like a Katrina, severe earthquake, etc...) that may affect/impact your operations? Have these plans been practiced? Do they undergo regular reviews for operational feasibility? Finally, in the event of a pandemic level disaster do they cover the "worst case scenarios" wherein you're facility is totally on it's own to handle the problems they may face?

[The Lord of the Keys]

We have plans, and they are reviewed and updated. I don't think we practice our responses often enough. Although we do train for smaller scale emergencies fairly often.

[ycaso77]

We have plans, plans for plans, back up EOC locations, evac plans, you name it. We have special emergency pager systems to text messages based on pre determined lists according to emergency types. Prepositoned emergency supplies and back up equipment. Its nice to have money! Do the powers that be understand or even know the plans, not on your life! They'll cheerfully wait for the catastrophe then point wildly while running in circles. The underlings will competently manage everything while cheerfully putting management in a bldg. 3 miles away. Love it when a plan comes together.

[Bill Warnock]

Hopefully I word this topic in a proprer enough fashion to get a few questions across without getting too specific. Please don't get specific in any response about the facility you now (or in the past for that matter) work at - I don't think we want to give any operational insight to any potential bad guys (heck, I sound like George Bush now ).

This week we had out monthly mandatory department meeting. The topic was our Incident Response System for disaster response. In discussing different disasters we plan for the topic of a pandemic level disaster was brought out and discussed.

My questions are: Does your facility have disaster plans in effect for various disaster scenarios (like a Katrina, severe earthquake, etc...) that may affect/impact your operations? Have these plans been practiced? Do they undergo regular reviews for operational feasibility? Finally, in the event of a pandemic level disaster do they cover the "worst case scenarios" wherein you're facility is totally on it's own to handle the problems they may face?

aka Bull:
Check NFPA 1600, standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs. Specific guidance is provided in that doucment. If your state has adopted that standard and it so codified, it is then mandatory.
Check also with your insurance provider. If the company does not have a plan, the carrier may give you a grace period in which to "repair." Stockholders may be able to sue if the company suddenly is out of business and no plan for recovery. They will be upset and could claim negligence on the part of management and board of directors. Your legal counsel will be able to shed light on this subject as smart management will seek advice on how to proceed and will definitely that help when constructing such a plan.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[aka Bull]

aka Bull:
Check NFPA 1600, standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs. Specific guidance is provided in that doucment. If your state has adopted that standard and it so codified, it is then mandatory.
Check also with your insurance provider. If the company does not have a plan, the carrier may give you a grace period in which to "repair." Stockholders may be able to sue if the company suddenly is out of business and no plan for recovery. They will be upset and could claim negligence on the part of management and board of directors. Your legal counsel will be able to shed light on this subject as smart management will seek advice on how to proceed and will definitely that help when constructing such a plan.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

Thanks for the tip NFPA 1600 tip Bill. I'll be looking into that. We are city owned and therefore self-insured, no insurance company criteria to meet. While we have in place disaster plans and we use the HICS model for incident command. The "issue" we (meaning some officers) are looking at is the depth of the worse case scenario planning. What I and others are concerned with is that we don't want the response options stopping short because of the "it'll never happen that bad to us" syndrome.

Overall we have some decent plans in place, and they get practiced as well. We have ironed out many issues where Security can't be the "we'll do it all department". Our manning would be stripped of any true security for the facility. At the same time we wish to prevent the idea that local/state/federal leo/nat guard will be there to protect us in face of serious threats to the safety and security of our facilities and operations.

And the Emergency Management Coordinator thought I was kidding when I asked about defending our hospital from trouble in a pandemic event or even a disaster on the scale of Katrina.

[Bill Warnock]

Thanks for the tip NFPA 1600 tip Bill. I'll be looking into that. We are city owned and therefore self-insured, no insurance company criteria to meet. While we have in place disaster plans and we use the HICS model for incident command. The "issue" we (meaning some officers) are looking at is the depth of the worse case scenario planning. What I and others are concerned with is that we don't want the response options stopping short because of the "it'll never happen that bad to us" syndrome.

Overall we have some decent plans in place, and they get practiced as well. We have ironed out many issues where Security can't be the "we'll do it all department". Our manning would be stripped of any true security for the facility. At the same time we wish to prevent the idea that local/state/federal leo/nat guard will be there to protect us in face of serious threats to the safety and security of our facilities and operations.

And the Emergency Management Coordinator thought I was kidding when I asked about defending our hospital from trouble in a pandemic event or even a disaster on the scale of Katrina.

aka Bull:
Kindly remind your EMC if you don't prepare for a full scale disaster, getting staff to and from the hospital and keeping the building safe and secure will tax the best of manpower. Keep a close check on your emergency power. One hospital found their exhausts on the prime movers clogged with rags and other debris that had to be "extracted." Motors would not have worked with the amount of debris found. Checking a little further, a couple of test entries, four to be exact were pencil whipped. You read about it every day, this and that emergency power source failed and the records are immaculate. As a training NCO in the USAF, I looked with a jaundiced eye those training records from a maintenance squadron that were pristine.
Glad to help.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[Lawson]

I dont know how much this relates, but lately I have kinda' been getting on my Company's and somewhat the client's back about training in general.

A couple things I have been pushing for is Fire and Lahar evacuation planning and drills (Lahar is a mudslide from a large volcanic eruption for those who dont know. ) I am also working on basic emergency response calls. I am going to try to run a training using classroom, tests, and practical exercises in the following events:

Vehicle Prowl;
Medical Attack Victim (Heart attack, Diabetic shock, etc...);
Dangerous Intruder;
Trespasser/NoContactOrder Violator on site;
Vandalism Response;
Vehicle Collision (Injury);
Burglary (Covert yet compliant);
Physical Altercation (i.e. Fight);
Intoxicated and Belligerent employee on site;
Bomb Threat;
Defensive/Restraint Tactics;
Use of Force Continuum Tactics;

And some others I just cant seem to think of right now.

Basically, I want my Security Team to be a well oiled machine.

[Bill Warnock]

I dont know how much this relates, but lately I have kinda' been getting on my Company's and somewhat the client's back about training in general.

A couple things I have been pushing for is Fire and Lahar evacuation planning and drills (Lahar is a mudslide from a large volcanic eruption for those who dont know. ) I am also working on basic emergency response calls. I am going to try to run a training using classroom, tests, and practical exercises in the following events:

Vehicle Prowl;
Medical Attack Victim (Heart attack, Diabetic shock, etc...);
Dangerous Intruder;
Trespasser/NoContactOrder Violator on site;
Vandalism Response;
Vehicle Collision (Injury);
Burglary (Covert yet compliant);
Physical Altercation (i.e. Fight);
Intoxicated and Belligerent employee on site;
Bomb Threat;
Defensive/Restraint Tactics;
Use of Force Continuum Tactics;

And some others I just cant seem to think of right now.

Basically, I want my Security Team to be a well oiled machine.

Wackenhut Lawson, you've made a good start. Now ask both company and client management to contact their legal counsel and insurer to find out what legal and more responsibilities they have in providing a reasonably safe and security environment and what employee and client training is considered adequate? Have the legal opinions and insurance risks in writing.
Keep at it and document whatever you do.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[N. A. Corbier]

Lawson, some of those should be Wackenhut Basic Training. Such as how to deal with a trespasser on site, how to deal with a vehicle accident on site, etc... Is your branch not running you through Wackenhut's training program?

[Lawson]

Its all covered in your basic training, but I highly endorse constant re-training. I dont think anyone can ever receive enough training. And I also enjoy training through means of practical exercise (aka. Mock Scenairo). If someone does not feel they want to participate in training, they have no place at my site.

I have already made my client contact. He is quite interested and wants us to use Employees as actors. My next step is to contact the safety cooridnator and get their take on it. I will also be contacting our Corp. Office Trainer so that he can create a platform for the training and basically hold the training. I mean, you can tell someone, make some read, and test someone on how to handle a situation all day long... but when they are faced with a real life situation, sometimes you will watch them just "lock-up" with that "deer-in-headlights" look. There is no room for that at my site what-so-ever.

[GCMC Security]

Its all covered in your basic training, but I highly endorse constant re-training. I dont think anyone can ever receive enough training. And I also enjoy training through means of practical exercise (aka. Mock Scenairo). If someone does not feel they want to participate in training, they have no place at my site.

I have already made my client contact. He is quite interested and wants us to use Employees as actors. My next step is to contact the safety cooridnator and get their take on it. I will also be contacting our Corp. Office Trainer so that he can create a platform for the training and basically hold the training. I mean, you can tell someone, make some read, and test someone on how to handle a situation all day long... but when they are faced with a real life situation, sometimes you will watch them just "lock-up" with that "deer-in-headlights" look. There is no room for that at my site what-so-ever.

Lawson,

Ask your Manager, Physical Security (or Operations Manager depending what your office calls it) for a list of the current WTI Learning Programs. These are programs your branch office can download and either email them to you or print them and give them to you. There are quite a few in many different subjects. I give one to my officers each month. Most of them can be used in a classroom format or as a "read and take quiz" format. Great programs. PM me and when I get back from leave I think i have the list at work.

[aka Bull]

aka Bull:
Kindly remind your EMC if you don't prepare for a full scale disaster, getting staff to and from the hospital and keeping the building safe and secure will tax the best of manpower. Keep a close check on your emergency power. One hospital found their exhausts on the prime movers clogged with rags and other debris that had to be "extracted." Motors would not have worked with the amount of debris found. Checking a little further, a couple of test entries, four to be exact were pencil whipped. You read about it every day, this and that emergency power source failed and the records are immaculate. As a training NCO in the USAF, I looked with a jaundiced eye those training records from a maintenance squadron that were pristine.
Glad to help.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

Bill,

Our EMC is aware. What I find curious is that the "it won't happen to us" attitude to the depth of everything going FUBAR. Our EMC was our department ops officer before moving up.

Since the response given to my question was not to my ideal I have embarked on writing up a proposal for "worse case scenario" security aspects and once finished I'll lay it in their lap - safely setting the liability for action (or inaction) right where it belongs.

It may take this rattling of their cage to see that they have issues that must be addressed.

As to our general plans, they're not bad at all. We have a disaster drill coming up soon involving the city and us. It should test more of the concepts in planning that have been ongoing in the past year.

Oh, our emergency power generation system is tested monthly. The generators get kicked in and run from several up to 8 hours, depending on the depth of the desired test for that month.

[N. A. Corbier]

Hopefully, a realistic assessment will be made during the disaster drill.