National standards critical for emergency preparedness
Jul 27, 2006 3:28 PM
Standards are "absolutely critical" to the success of emergency preparedness efforts in the U.S., according to George W. Foresman, U.S. Department of Homeland Security under secretary for preparedness. Foresman spoke at a workshop of the American National Standards Institute's Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP) that analyzed the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.
The July 12 workshop brought together experts from the Homeland security and emergency preparedness community in Washington, D.C., to further national discussion of how standards, accreditation and certification programs can help support implementation of key federal recommendations on the Katrina aftermath.
"The American National Standard on emergency management and business continuity programs is core to our preparedness efforts for measuring preparedness in both the public and private sectors," Foresman said during his keynote remarks. "(NFPA 1600) is used not only in our nation-wide plan review, but also our day-to-day assessments."
Workshop participants examined the crucial role of NFPA 1600 -- the “Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs,” designed to be a description of the basic criteria for a comprehensive program that addresses disaster recovery, emergency management and business continuity. Breakout sessions focused on command, control and communications; partnerships; and operations.
"The workshop confirmed and further underscored the importance of standards and specifically NFPA 1600 for emergency preparedness. The standard appears sufficiently comprehensive to support the implementation of most of the Katrina report recommendations, with a few possible exceptions that the ANSI-HSSP will examine further," says Joseph Broz, vice president of strategic initiatives at Midwest Research Institute.
Sharon Caudle, assistant director, Homeland security and justice team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, served as co-leader of the workshop with Broz. She expects a final report from the workshop that will demonstrate the linkages between the elements of NFPA 1600 and the major recommendations for catastrophic event preparedness that have emerged as lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.
Representatives from the DHS National Incident Management System (NIMS) Integration Center, the DHS Hurricane Exercise Program and the American Red Cross, were among others that delivered presentations which helped further identify challenges and the work under way post-Katrina to better prepare the nation.
A follow-up workshop meeting is planned for early fall. Visit www.ansi.org/hssp for information.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2010 Penton Media Inc.
Story Missing Your Link?
Is the above story missing a link? Is it missing a link to your company, or your website? If this is the case please e-mail us and we'll add the link as soon as possible. Thank you!
advertisement
