Strengthening Emergency Preparedness in Higher Education through Hazard Vulnerability Analysis
2016; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; Volume: 91; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0010-0889
AutoresMatthew Fifolt, Jeffrey Burrowes, Tarrant McPherson, Lisa C. McCormick,
Tópico(s)Disaster Management and Resilience
ResumoUnder the best of circumstances, u.S. higher education institutions face challenges every day. However, campus operations can be severely threatened or completely halted by natural and man-made disasters (Srinivas 2015). Experts have noted a great deal of variability among u.S. institutions' planning and preparedness for emergency situations (Kapucu and Khosa 2012; Roscorla 2010; Zdziarski et al. 2007). Therefore, the goal of this research was to examine the capacity of u.S. higher education institutions in general-and of one institution in particular-to evaluate potential threats using a hazard vulnerability analysis (hva) assessment. Specifically, investigators sought to identify institutions that used the Kaiser Permanente model or another type of hva assessment, the frequency with which institutions administered hva assessments, and the types of risks institutions considered most likely based on hva assessment scores.BACKGROUNDThe concept of emergency management for u.S. higher education institutions is complex because the range of potential hazards and disasters is almost limitless. Recent examples, among many others, include acts of individual violence (Jensen 2007; Sander 2008; Vanderhart, Johnson and Turkewitz 2015); natural disasters (Gardner et al. 2007; Simmons and Sutter 2012); and influenza and other campus pandemics (Costill 2015).Because emergencies vary in size and scope, higher education institutions increasingly are adopting an all-hazards approach to emergency management that is comparable to that used by local, state, and federal government entities (Fox and Savage 2009; Kapucu and Khosa 2012; Worsley and Beckering 2007). According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (fema) (1996), an all-hazards approach to emergency management combines a chainof-command structure with the flexibility to adjust to new information in real time rather than relying on a rigid set of guidelines based on a particular type of incident.LITERATURE REVIEWWhile many postsecondary institutions have full-time staff members with formal education, training, and certification in emergency management, others employ individuals with add-on responsibilities for emergency management who have little or no formal training or education in this highly specialized field (Kapucu and Khosa 2012; Mitroff, Diamond and Alpaslan 2006). The location of emergency management operations varies by institution, and recovery and response efforts may be influenced by institutional characteristics such as the number of students, faculty and staff members, and visitor populations; geographic landscape of the physical plant; number and types of academic and residential buildings; emergency management budgets; and research activities involving toxic or hazardous materials (Tindell, Prater and Perry 2006; Mitroff, Diamond and Alpaslan 2006).HAZARD IDENTIFICATIONMany higher education institutions maintain their own police forces; some even manage fire departments, transportation services, and other large-scale operations. Thus, many college and university campuses essentially operate as cities in terms of the services they provide (Mitroff, Diamond and Alpaslan 2006). In addition to the size and scale of the physical plant, educational environments can pose unique challenges to emergency managers as a result of their affiliations with medical centers and research labs in which individuals utilize radiological and other hazardous materials. Further, institutions often host events-e.g., Division I football games-that draw tens of thousands of visitors to campus.As the complexity of college campuses increases, emergency managers must develop increasingly sophisticated plans and protocols to effectively mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from a multitude of disaster scenarios (Mitroff, Diamond and Alpaslan 2006). Fiites et al. (2013) noted that quantifying perceptions of risk on college and university campuses can be a significant challenge. …
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