An emergency
preparedness or crisis management evaluation should contain four
foundational areas: the actual written plan, systems compatibility,
training, and infrastructure. The first step is evaluating the written
documentation which the plan is based on. LECMgt will read every
document and track all protocols, action lists, and responsibilities.
This helps to insure these documents are valid and up to date.
The second step is based on the information gathered during the
document review. Many organizations have excellent localized plans
and procedures. Often careful attention is not given to how these
activities support and coexist within the greater frame work of
the entire emergency preparedness or crisis management system.
This can lead to contradictory or conflicting actions that can
inhibit the overall effectiveness of the system. The LECMgt evaluation
protocol is designed uncover these types of obstacles.
The third step is training. The training programs and level of
general effectiveness must be evaluated. This provides policy
makers and administrators a clear sense of how effective their
organizational training is and possible new training requirements.
The final part of this evaluation is a review of the organizations
infrastructure. This includes all of the facilities and equipment
available to support emergency operations or crisis management.
This part of the evaluation reviews the availability, accessibility,
and condition of your organizational infrastructure. An important
part of this review is ascertaining the skills and abilities of
your response team to employ the available infrastructure.
A typical evaluation takes about six to eight weeks. At the
conclusion of the evaluation a written report and live presentation
of the information collected is provided to the organization’s
leadership. The report includes a list of recommendations relative
to the conclusions of the evaluation. This type of evaluation
is exactly what the legal counsel of a potential litigant will
conduct prior to serving your organization with a lawsuit. The
LECMgt emergency preparedness evaluation allows administrators
and policy makers an advantage in identifying potential gaps in
their organization’s emergency preparations and helps to
reduce their vulnerability to hostile litigation.
