Emergency Management References: Principles of Emergency Management

As we discussed in our last blog, we would like to share a number of reference documents focused on emergency management and/or emergency planning. The first is titled Principles of Emergency Management.







The history of this document stems from a connection to Johnson County Ks. In 2006, Dr. B. Wayne Blanchard, while planning for an EMI meeting in March 2007, received an email from Mike Selves (former Johnson County, Ks Emergency Manager and former president of the International Association of Emergency Managers). Mike Selves shared that "the single most helpful thing EMI could do in conjunction with the academic and practitioner E.M. communities would be to revive the concept of emergency management principles."

In March of 2007, Dr. Wayne Blanchard of FEMA’s Emergency Management Higher Education Project, at the direction of Dr. Cortez Lawrence, Superintendent of FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute, convened a working group of emergency management practitioners and academics to consider principles of emergency management. This project was prompted by the realization that while numerous books, articles and papers referred to “principles of emergency management”, nowhere in the vast array of literature on the subject was there an agreed upon definition of what these principles were. The group agreed on eight principles that will be used to guide the development of a doctrine of emergency management. This monograph lists these eight principles and provides a brief description of each.

Below are some key points and a link to the full document.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
DEFINITION, VISION, MISSION, PRINCIPLES

Definition
Emergency management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters.

Vision
Emergency management seeks to promote safer, less vulnerable communities with the capacity to cope with hazards and disasters.

Mission
Emergency management protects communities by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters.

Principles
Emergency Management must be:

1. Comprehensive – emergency managers consider and take into account all hazards, all phases, all stakeholders and all impacts relevant to disasters.
2. Progressive – emergency managers anticipate future disasters and take preventive and preparatory measures to build disaster-resistant and disaster-resilient communities.
3. Risk-driven – emergency managers use sound risk management principles (hazard identification, risk analysis, and impact analysis) in assigning priorities and resources.
4. Integrated – emergency managers ensure unity of effort among all levels of government and all elements of a community.
5. Collaborative – emergency managers create and sustain broad and sincere relationships among individuals and organizations to encourage trust, advocate a team atmosphere, build consensus, and facilitate communication.
6. Coordinated – emergency managers synchronize the activities of all relevant stakeholders to achieve a common purpose.
7. Flexible – emergency managers use creative and innovative approaches in solving disaster challenges. Professional – emergency managers value a science and knowledge-based approach based on education, training, experience, ethical practice, public stewardship and continuous improvement.

For further in-depth details regarding each principle and a copy of the complete document, click here.