29 Sep Complete your Risk Assessment Table for your organization and
1. Complete your Risk Assessment Table for your organization and submit your final table
2. Write 5 goals for prevention/mitigation for your organization or for a small non-profit such as
Dress for Success or Adopt a Stray Inc. based on your Risk Assessment.
For Question 1 use the Coop for Small Businesses pages 26-36
Performance objectives are milestones on the path to achieving your preparedness program’s goals. Objectives should be developed for all aspects of the program. Include hazard prevention/deterrence, risk mitigation, emergency response and business continuity.
Consider goals and objectives for managing risk, investing in resources, establishing capabilities through training and exercising and complying with regulations. Consider both short-term objectives for the development of the program and long-term objectives that may require more significant planning or investment.
Examples of short-term objectives include:
· Establish a program committee that includes wide participation from your company.
· Assess your current preparedness program.
· Reach out to public emergency services and regulators. Ask for input.
· Conduct a risk assessment to identify threat and hazard scenarios and significant loss potential.
· Conduct a business impact analysis to identify the operational and financial impacts from an interruption or disruption of your business.
· Identify opportunities for hazard prevention and risk mitigation.
· Protect the safety of your employees by developing evacuation, sheltering and lockdown plans. Conduct employee training and drills.
· Install an emergency generator to power the data center during a power outage.
· Develop plans to equip and configure Plant B as a backup for Plant A.
Examples of long-term objectives include:
· Upgrading the protection of the facility by installing a fire sprinkler system.
· Phasing out the use of highly toxic or flammable chemicals.
· Conducting a full-scale exercise of our emergency management program involving public emergency services.
· Shifting some or all operations to a location that is less susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes or flooding.
· Building a culture of preparedness in the workplace and encourage employees to have a plan at home.
Objectives should be tangible and measurable. When the program is reviewed (see Program Improvement ) determine whether objectives have been achieved.
,
COOP for Smaller CBOs Continuity of Operations
1
COOP for Smaller CBOs
Toolkit Continuity of Operations for Smaller Community-based Organizations
Recognize the difference between what is urgent today
and what is important for tomorrow.
Don’t be tempted to underestimate the risk by thinking
“It probably won’t happen to me.”
The purpose of this Toolkit is to introduce community-based organizations to a planning
process that will help them to survive disasters and quickly resume their services to the
community.
2
This material was assembled by Volunteer Florida and is available upon request
in Braille, audiotape, large print, and on computer disk. Please call 850-921-
9172 voice/tty for alternative formats.
3
Table of Contents
COOP for Smaller Community-Based Organizations 5
Community-based Organizations………………………………………… 5
The COOP for CBOs Toolkit 5
What, exactly, is a COOP?………………………………………………… 6
Tips for Developing a COOP 6
Basic Terminology………………………………………………………… 7
Four Phases of Emergency Management 7
The Planning Process……………………………………………………… 8
The Continuity of Operations Plan 9
Essential Elements of a COOP……………………………………………………. 9
1. Mission Essential Functions 10
2. Current Resources and Capabilities…………………………………… 10
3. Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability 11
4. Direction and Control…………………………………………………… 12
5. Authority and Succession 12
6. Logistics and Administration…………………………………………… 12
7. Security 13
8. Communications………………………………………………………… 13
9. Facilities and Equipment 13
10. Vital Records and Databases…………………………………………. 14
11. People 14
12. Supplies, Products and Services……………………………………… 16
13. Insurance 16
14. Community Relations…………………………………………………. 16
Implementing your COOP 17
Training and Exercise……………………………………………………… 17
Response and Recovery: Activating Your COOP 17
Emergency Protective Actions…………………………………………….. 17
Implement the Recovery Plan 18
Mitigation…………………………………………………………………… 18
Additional Resources 19
Table of Forms, Checklists and Charts……………………………………………… 23
4
5
COOP for Smaller Community-based Organizations
Community-based Organizations
Community-based, nonprofit organizations (CBOs) are a vital part of any community. They
provide services that enhance the quality of life and contribute to the economic vitality of the
community. When a CBO loses its capacity to serve due to a major disaster or even an
unforeseen internal event, the loss is felt not only by the clients it once helped but also by the
community as a whole.
Since 1998 federal government agencies have been required to maintain Continuity of
Operations Plans (COOP) to ensure their continued viability in the event of a natural or
human caused event threatening our safety and security. Federal and state COOP
requirements, however, do not extend to large nonprofits and CBOs, which make up more
than half of all the organizations that provide services in disasters.
In the aftermath of each storm of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, CBOs vital to the
recovery process were among the casualties. Some never re-opened.
Because we are just as dependent on CBOs as on government agencies in a post-disaster
environment, it is critical to make Continuity of Operations planning a routine part of doing
business. Every organization, regardless of its size, is vulnerable to a variety of hazards. The
survival of each organization and its capacity to serve is the responsibility of the organization
itself.
The COOP for CBOs Toolkit
This Toolkit is designed to help COOP planners to:
• Know the difference between hazards, risk and vulnerability
• Understand the purpose and content of the Continuity of Operations planning process
• Know the essential elements of a COOP
• Be able to apply COOP principles to their own unique organizations
The narrative portion of this Toolkit is intended to explain the planning process and the
essential elements of a COOP and to instill a sense of urgency in organizations whose services
are critical to recovery from disasters. The worksheets, charts and checklists, many
referenced in the text, will help planners to easily gather and record information and identify
specific areas where additional planning is needed.
This Toolkit is a condensed version of COOP for CBOs. If your organization has more than
30 employees, manages multiple sites or operates several programs for different clients or
consumers, you might find yourself asking, “Well, what about…?” If this version seems to be
insufficient for your needs, please refer to the original COOP for CBOs available at
www.volunteerflorida.org.
6
What, exactly, is a COOP?
A Continuity of Operations Plan is a tool that will help you persevere in the face of disaster.
It is both a process and a document that will enable you to strengthen your organization.
The COOP process requires careful consideration of these questions:
• What/who are we?
• What could constitute a disaster or emergency for our organization?
• What are our vulnerabilities?
• What can we do to survive?
• Are we flexible enough to redefine our organization’s purposes and processes?
Your COOP document will become:
• A record of your responses to these questions; and
• A set of actions to take before, during and after a disaster to ensure that your
organization can accomplish its essential functions.
Tips for Developing a COOP
A University of Wisconsin 1 study has shown that attitude, adaptability and flexibility are
fundamental requirements for organizational survival. Your COOP will help your
organization survive if you keep in mind that:
• The plan is for the continuance of your operation, not merely a plan for physical
facilities. Traditional structural precautions are necessary to reduce losses to life and
property, but are not sufficient to insure organizational survival.
• Most losses do not occur during or immediately after an event. Agency losses go
beyond initial damage to include business interruption and lost funding, which leads to
loss of employees and other organizational assets.
• Meeting client and consumer needs is the purpose of your organization. Those needs
often drastically change in the wake of a disaster.
• Survivors are flexible, innovative entrepreneurs. Returning to business as usual might
not be the best goal. Survivors often come up with an alternate strategy, such as
moving to a new location, changing their business processes or even changing their
products or services.
The process of developing a COOP will be a satisfying experience, as your organization
systematically plans to ensure that you’ll be there to help when the community needs you
most.
1 Organizations At Risk: What Happens When Small Businesses and Not-For-Profits Encounter Natural
Disasters, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Center for Organizational Studies, 2001
7
Basic Terminology
What is an incident or emergency?
An emergency is any unplanned occurrence that can cause deaths or significant injuries to
employees, customers or the public; or that can shut down your organization, disrupt
operations, cause physical or environmental damage, or threaten the organization’s public
image or financial standing.
What is a disaster?
An emergency is generally considered a disaster if its impacts are so devastating that they are
beyond the capacity of the local community to manage them and additional resources are
needed from outside the impacted area. However, to a small community-based organization,
a structure fire, damaged computer network or the loss of a key manager can have disastrous
effects.
What is emergency management?
Emergency management is the combined actions taken before, during and after an incident to
save lives, protect property and preserve or resume the normal life of a community.
Who is an emergency manager?
You! Every individual has a responsibility to take actions that will minimize the impacts of
disasters on themselves, their families and their places of work. It is individuals, in concert
with local, state and federal government and non-governmental organizations, who will create
the “Culture of Preparedness” 2 that will make this nation and its communities more disaster
resistant and resilient. Developing your Continuity of Operations Plan is an important step
toward that goal.
Four Phases of Emergency Management
The work of managing disasters is done in phases. Every disaster has four phases –
preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. It is common for an organization or a
community to be in the recovery phase of one disaster and the preparedness phase of another.
• Preparedness – The process of getting ready to withstand the impacts of a disaster and
to implement the other three phases of emergency management
• Mitigation – Preventive measures taken to reduce the risk of experiencing an
emergency, and to reduce vulnerability and minimize damage.
• Response – That part of the emergency management cycle that occurs immediately
before, during, and immediately after an emergency incident. Response is not merely
2 The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-
lessons-learned/chapter6.html
8
a reaction; it is a planned set of operations designed to manage and control, to the
extent possible, the event and its consequences.
• Recovery – Consists of restoring the physical and operational elements of an
organization to their pre-disaster state. It may include modified, improved or
alternative solutions.
Continuity of Operations Plans focus on preparedness and mitigation strategies to reduce the
need for response and recovery measures.
The Planning Process
The broadest possible participation in the planning process will help to ensure the buy-in of
employees at all levels and in all departments of your organization. Assemble a COOP
planning team that includes someone from each level and each department, and assign one
person to lead the team. Make sure the team knows it has the support of top management. If
your organization is a two or three-person operation, you are not “excused” from developing a
COOP for lack of a team. It simply means that your “team” has already been assembled and
that a few of the planning steps described in this Toolkit might not apply to your organization.
Prior to writing the plan, baseline information from all operational areas of the organization
should be assembled. Gather current emergency plans and policies, building plans and site
maps. Other baseline information could include: resource lists (equipment, supplies,
services), hazardous materials (including cleaning supplies and chemicals), mutual aid
agreements, security procedures, evacuation plans, information technology inventories and
procedures, employee and volunteer manuals, record retention procedures, organization charts
and delegations of authority.
Codes and regulations affecting the organization’s operations must also be identified. A
general example is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations
that apply to all. Specific examples are the safe food-handling regulations that apply to CBOs
such as soup kitchens and Meals on Wheels, and the confidentiality requirements of agencies
making and receiving client referrals.
The steps in writing the plan are similar to most general planning processes and include the
following:
• Establish goals
• Collect data
• Determine hazards, risks and vulnerabilities of your organization
• Analyze current capabilities
• Prepare first draft
• Review by staff, board of directors and external stakeholders
• Incorporate changes, prepare final draft
• Final review by organization’s board of directors
• Officially accept and adopt as company policy
• Print and distribute
• Train, exercise and regularly update
9
The Continuity of Operations Plan
The Continuity of Operations Plan should contain:
• The purpose of the plan
• Key staff names and contact information
• The organization’s mission essential functions
• Methods of alert and notification of staff
• Description of alternate operations
• Standard Operating Procedures, such as, but not limited to:
o Activation procedures
o Management and staff notification procedures and lists
o Building evacuation plan
o Customer and supplier notification plans
o Alternate facilities plans
o Site support procedures
o Resource acquisition plans
o Plans for protection of vital records and databases
o Alternate communications plans
o Facility disaster supply kit and Go Box checklists
o Family preparedness guidance
Essential Elements of a COOP
A Continuity of Operations Plan follows a generally accepted planning process, but contains
certain components and elements that are essential for the plan to be a useful disaster planning
tool. The essential elements that will be found in a comprehensive Continuity of Operations
Plan include:
1. Mission Essential Functions
2. Current Resources and Capabilities
3. Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Vulnerability
4. Direction and Control
5. Authority and Succession
6. Logistics and Administration
7. Security
8. Communication
9. Facilities and Equipment
10. Vital Records / Information Technology
11. People
12. Supplies, Products and Services
13. Insurance
14. Community Interface
10
1. Mission Essential Functions
Development of the COOP begins with identification of your organization’s mission essential
functions. Mission essential functions are critical activities that are vital to the survival of the
organization and the accomplishment of its mission. These functions must be performed or
the organization ceases to operate. In identifying mission essential functions, consider both
normal day-to-day operations and the organization’s responsibilities during a disaster. 3
To determine how critical a function is, consider the following points.
• Would the function increase, decrease, remain the same or terminate during an
emergency?
• Would elimination or curtailment restrict the organization’s ability to deliver its
product or services?
• Be especially cautious with functions for which performance depends on a single
resource or activity.
• Determine the organizational unit responsible for each function.
• Identify organizational, product and service linkages to each essential function.
• Identify the human and other resources necessary to keep the function operational.
The next step is to prioritize the functions you have determined to be essential to your
organization. Those dealing with life or safety issues must be addressed first, followed by
other functions without which the organization will cease to operate.
2. Current Resources and Capabilities
This essential element enables an organization to understand where it is now, and, in the event
of an emergency, what capabilities and resources need to be developed in order to accomplish
its essential missions.
• Analyze capabilities
• Inventory resources
• Examine organization charts and personnel assignments
• Evaluate lines of authority
• Review internal plans and policies
• Analyze lines of communication
• Determine weaknesses
3 See Chart p. 100
11
3. Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability
The terms hazard, risk and vulnerability are similar but the distinctions between them are
important to the Continuity of Operations planning process.
Hazards are the potential incidents that could have a negative impact on you, your
organization or your community.
Risk is the probability or likelihood that a particular hazard will impact your organization,
either directly or indirectly.
Vulnerability is the potential impact of an incident on your organization.
Hazards can be categorized as:
• Natural – including severe weather, flooding, heat and drought, wildfire, sinkholes and
seismic events, agricultural diseases and pests, and human disease epidemic
• Human caused – including structure fire and hazardous materials spills
• Technological – including disruption of utility, information and communications
systems, and environmental health threats
• Criminal and terrorism – including bomb threats, building explosion, suspicious letters
and parcels, chemical and biological weapons, cyber attacks, civil unrest, robbery and
theft
• Other hazards – such as violence in the workplace
This is not a comprehensive list and there might be hazards unique to your agency or location
that will require special planning.
Vulnerability is frequently divided into three principal categories:
• Impact on humans: your employees, customers and clients. Liability and damage to
your reputation are also related to impact on humans.
• Impact on property: facilities and equipment, supplies, stock and product, and such
intangibles as your client lists, databases and other vital proprietary information.
• Impact on your operations: How vulnerable are you if your employees are unable to
report to work, there is an interruption in critical supplies, the transportation system is
disrupted, or utilities are unavailable?
After assessing risks and vulnerabilities 4 , it is important to assess your resources and ability to
respond to each threat. Do you have the internal resources and capabilities to respond? Are
there external resources are available to help you? Can you establish mutual aid agreements?
If the answers to these questions are ‘No,’ you must then determine what can be done to
prepare your organization to respond.
Once the hazards and your organization’s risk and vulnerability are determined, consider who
has the expertise to help with your planning. If there are hazards for which you do not know
how to prepare, contact your local emergency management agency, which can refer you to a
person, agency or department with the needed expertise.
4 See Chart, p. 25
12
4. Direction and Control
This element of the COOP addresses the question of who will direct the operations outlined in
your Continuity of Operations Plan. Someone must be in charge during an emergency. In
very small organizations the day-to-day leadership will probably remain in charge. However,
because emergency procedures may differ dramatically from normal day-to-day operations,
the person with primary responsibility for COOP planning or an individual with personal
experience in emergencies may be designated to take charge.
5. Authority and Succession
After an incident has occurred, it is too late to determine who has the authority to do what.
Authority, delegation of authority and lines of succession should be part of a normal course of
business and are essential elements of a Continuity of Operations Plan since roles and
responsibilities will often differ during an emergency.
At a minimum, delegations of authority and orders of succession should:
• Describe which authorities should be delegated and to whom (e.g., the authority to
dismiss staff)
• Describe the circumstances under which the temporary authorities would be exercised
(e.g., worksite is unsafe)
• Describe the circumstances under which normal authority would be resumed
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