EOCs on a dime: Response to recovery

By Tom Carey / tom@theklaxon.com / 01.27.2010

Updated on: 01.27.10 at 7:20 pm

Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA

Get your helmet, it’s game time. An emergency has struck and you’re in charge.

Trained staff or alternates are in place and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) manager addresses the disaster dealt by Mother Nature or that of man. Since an EOC typically is found in a designated area within a facility, a disaster may cause it to become inoperable. An alternate site should have been identified in the mitigation and preparedness phases of the Emergency Management (EM) cycle. Most corporations identify these existing facilities to mirror that of the primary. Remember, an EOC is not an Incident Command Post (ICP), but an operations center where coordination and resource management decisions are facilitated. A mobile trailer or truck combination may be utilized as an ICP if your organization chooses this viable option in establishing a venue near the disaster site.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

The usual lack of information provided by local officials and local media often force management to make groundbreaking decisions upon the onset of a disaster. Only in textbooks does the EOC manager obtain all of the needed details to make informative decisions. An experienced manager can receive partial details of an incident from reliable and seasoned personnel and make it work. This is what you are paid to do. Time management is crucial since the recovery phase can begin after the immediate threat to human life subsides. As long as senior management can determine the severity of the damage, a sufficient disaster recovery operation can be initiated through your response. Initial decisions made by senior management will help shape the environment to bring your organization closer to its Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs).

Each situation is dynamic, and, therefore, response issues usually remain consistent in nature. Local, county or state law enforcement are likely to close down major roads and highways during bad weather conditions or in a case of a terrorist event. Predetermined conditions exist and are  routinely applied by public safety agencies, and, therefore, must be factored into your Business Continuity Planning (BCP). EOC team members should respond to a predetermined location that has been carefully selected for its size and relative safety. Personnel working at the affected facility can address the crisis and notify off duty personnel to respond. All personnel—regardless of their position in the firm—should be familiar with a  simple standard operating procedure (SOP) of the organization’s activation levels for them to follow based on the emergency presented.

Staffing of personnel

The EOC manager should dispatch individuals with the appropriate skill sets needed to address the type of emergency. EOC members can be notified via phone, text message or phone tree, which can refer them to an EOC activation checklist, where they can obtain further instructions.

The application of a proper scheduling system should be implemented almost immediately based on your organization’s activation level. The old A/B shift works fine in a pinch, which assigns equal personnel to a 12-hour shift. If this doesn’t work for your EOC staff, leave a skeleton crew for the late shift to ensure continuity of operations—again, with the proper mix of skill sets. However, during the first 24 hours of the emergency, your team should be ready to stay for the night since relief personnel may not be able to get to the EOC. Your team will need more than a go bag for this one. Sleeping bags, cots, bottled water, energy bars, etc. should be pre-packed and accessible to your team.

Tasking individuals to work long hours under high stress and different working conditions can become counterproductive. The bottom line is to ensure that personnel receive adequate rest so they don’t burnout and/or make a fatal mistake.

Role of the Incident Command System (ICS)

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) the FIRESCOPE ICS is primarily a command and control system delineating job responsibilities and organizational structure for the purpose of managing day-to-day operations for all types of emergency incidents. Today, ICS is used nationally by both public safety and private sector emergency managers under the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

NIMS provides any corporation the flexibility to both activate and establish an organizational format simultaneously based on the needed ICS functions to be performed.  ICS provides private sector EOC staffs with a standardized operational structure and common terminology that it shares with its public safety counterparts. It allows the private sector to interface with public officials on an even playing field in addressing common efforts such as communication and resource allocations. Assigning a skilled Liaison Officer (LNO) to coordinate and interact with these agencies is a must if not already part of your Disaster Recovery Program (DRP). These reestablished relationships with the public safety community will ensure your business not only has a presence at the scene of a disaster, but a voice for your concerns. Remember: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” You need to have an individual on the ground to identify what is the prioritization of resource allocation and assistance that may be provided by first responders from various agencies.

Information management

A supportive EOC provides a strategic overview (big picture) of a disaster for its organization. The EOC not only manages response and recovery efforts, but it collects and processes a high volume of information as well. This needed information has to be verified, evaluated and acted upon through resource allocation for each event. That way event information can be properly managed and response activities can be controlled. An efficient EOC should use software to perform various functions such as event alerts, incident logging, taskings, resource allocation, briefings and documentations.

Operational functions

Once the initial chaos subsides it will become the responsibility to ensure smaller problems are controlled.

In the days following a large-scale disaster, it will be necessary to sustain your operations, ensuring proper command, control and communications (C3) are flowing throughout your organization. The EOC is the link to the rest of the organization as a whole to make sure senior management’s decisions are being met to ensure its continuity. An EOC should be able to provide the organization it serves at a minimum with the following functions:

Command and Control

Clear Communications both internally and externally

Function as a Virtual EOC

Track Events through Status boards and Logs

Resource Management

Documentation of response efforts

Tracking Vendor Support Activities

The virtual EOC

A Virtual EOC (VEOC) functions as an adjunct to a physical EOC—whether supporting a primary or alternate location. Although selected primary staff members should be present at the physical EOC, other team members can be in contact with the EOC. This allows individuals to remain working in their regular job title to address the corporations standard business functions while at other locations.

According to All Hands Consulting, VEOCs can help widely distributed managers triage problems and track the deployment of resources, response teams and other capabilities according to plan, so as to resolve the incident. VEOCs use a variety of technologies and communications as well including: Internet, intranet, VPN, Radio over IP (ROIP), satellite and cellular to name a few.

This alternative enables senior management to receive current information from the field that allows them to make informed decisions. Departmental heads and line managers can operationally re-task subordinates by receiving feedback from senior management.

VEOCs are cost effective and are compatible with most software products used in the operation. Report and plans implemented by a company can be easily retrieved by utilizing this Web-based software.

Recovery

Since some recovery efforts overlap with the incident response phase, they often continue beyond the life of initial response functions. EOC staffing should be reduced at this point in order to address the organization’s recovery efforts.

EOCs become re-tasked as a project office to coordinate and manage  resources with contractors to bring the company back online. Keeping the organization focused on its mission in conjunction with restoration activities is a proven factor ensuring your organization remains resilient through any crisis.

This article only provides a brief snapshot of the many response and recovery efforts that an organization must orchestrate when a disaster strikes, but should provide you with a few helpful resources that may assist you in disaster recovery.

EOCs: All Hands Consulting

ICS Structure: FEMA

NFPA: Note NFPA 1600 and DRII’s BCP  has combined their two standards into 1600-2010 edition, which includes ICS specifically.

VEOCs: Virtual EOCs