Today, the Administration released guides for developing high-quality emergency operations plans for schools, institutions of higher education (IHEs) and Houses of Worship. These guides align and build upon years of emergency planning work by the Federal government and are the first joint product of DHS, DOJ, ED and HHS on this critical topic. The guides are customized to each type of community, incorporate lessons learned from recent incidents, and respond to the needs and concerns voiced by stakeholders following the recent shootings in Newtown and Oak Creek and the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma. Schools, IHEs and Houses of Worship can use them to create new plans as well as to revise and update existing plans and align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels.
Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans
The Guide is accessible here: http://rems.ed.gov/docs/REMS_K-12_Guide_508.pdf [PDF, 1822 KB]
Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education
The Guide is accessible here: http://rems.ed.gov/docs/REMS_IHE_Guide_508.pdf [PDF, 2197 KB]
Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship
The Guide is accessible here: http://rems.ed.gov/docs/Developing_EOPs_for_Houses_of_Worship_FINAL.pdf [PDF, 399 KB]
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Obama Administration releases guides for developing high-quality emergency operations plans for schools, institutions of higher education (IHE) and houses of worship.
On June 18, 2013 the Obama Administration released the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education and the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship. These guides are the culmination of years of emergency planning work by the Federal government, and the first joint product of ED, DHS, DOJ and HHS on this critical topic. The guides incorporate lessons learned from the recent shootings in Newtown and Oak Creek as well as the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma, can be customized to each type of community, and may be used to create new emergency plans as well as to revise and update existing plans.
The planning process outlined in the guides will help schools, IHEs and houses of worship align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels. National preparedness efforts, including emergency planning, are now informed by Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8, signed by the President in March 2011, which describes the nation’s approach to preparedness. This directive represents an evolution in our collective understanding of national preparedness, based on the lessons learned from terrorism, hurricanes, school incidents, and other emergencies.
The new guides translate the planning guidance from these recent developments to the school, IHE and houses of worship contexts, ensuring that they benefit from these advancements, and introduce schools, IHEs and houses of worship to a new approach to planning that includes walking through different emergency scenarios to create a course of action for each objective the team is trying to accomplish, whether it be providing fire prevention training to all students and staff that work with combustible materials or evacuating everyone in the building.
The Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Institutions of Higher Education and the Guide for Developing High-Quality Emergency Operations Plans for Houses of Worship may be accessed on the REMS TA Center website (http://rems.ed.gov) at the following location: http://rems.ed.gov/EOPGuides.
If you have any questions, please call me at 402-981-8970.
r/ Greg
Greg Hollingsead, CPP, PSP
Protective Security Advisor, Nebraska District
US Department of Homeland Security
402-981-8970 Cell