# Presentation: 657296

## NIH Emergency Management/

**NIH Emergency Management/**
**Continuity of Operations **
**Program Overview Briefing**

**Dec 2006**

## Table of Contents

- NIH Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations (EM/COOP) Program
- NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative
- Emergency Preparedness
- Resources and Next Steps

**Table of Contents**

## Division of Emergency Preparedness and Coordination

- Serving under the Division of Safety within ORS, the Emergency Management Branch advanced the NIH Fire Department and response support personnel capabilities, specifically in the hazardous materials arena.
- The Emergency Management Branch remained the primary coordination lead until the late 1990’s, when reorganization led to a merger with the NIH Police Department and designation of one management component - the Division of Public Safety.
- Following the 2001 terrorist attacks on our Nation, the Division of Public Safety was reorganized giving way to the Security and Emergency Response Program. From this, the Division of Emergency Preparedness (DEPC) was created.

**Division of Emergency Preparedness and Coordination**

- History of the NIH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Coordination:

## Where Does DEPC Reside?

## DEPC Program Objectives

- Maintaining the "NIH Occupant Evacuation Plan" and ensuring overall compliance among the NIH community. Ensure competency of Occupant Emergency Organization staff through regular training classes, seminars and semi-annual evacuation drills at all NIH facilities.
- Developing response plans and exercises to test the adequacy and readiness of the facility and its people.
- Developing and implementing the NIH Continuity of Operations (COOP) Plan as mandated by federal guidance and Department of Health and Human Services directives.

**DEPC Program Objectives**

- The DEPC is the principal emergency planning resource for the NIH and is responsible for coordinating all NIH resources essential to emergency planning and preparedness functions. The DEPC is responsible for the following activities:

## Why Focus on Emergency Preparedness?

- Emergency events can happen anywhere and at any time.

**Building 30 Fire –**
**Evacuation of Lab Animals**

**Partial Collapse of NIH Parking Garage**

## Table of Contents

- NIH Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations (EM/COOP) Program
- NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative
- Emergency Preparedness
- Resources and Next Steps

**Table of Contents**

## NIH EM/COOP Program Overview

- NIH is currently in the process of developing a comprehensive Emergency Management (EM)/COOP Program.
- 	The purpose of this Program is to:
- Establish an integrated process for managing critical actions following an emergency event;
- Keep employees safe; and
- Ensure essential functions remain viable.
- The EM/COOP Program will include elements such as:
- The NIH COOP Plan and Occupant Evacuation Plans;
- Alert and notification procedures (with HHS, within NIH, and with the ICs); and
- IC Crisis Response Teams.

## NIH EM/COOP Program Overview – Key Facts

***Personnel Safety and ******Emergency Preparedness.*** NIH has emergency plans in place to provide for the safety and protection of employees, patients, and visitors across a wide range of potential emergencies. To increase employee awareness of these emergency measures, NIH has implemented a training program and produced outreach materials.
***Protection of Critical Assets.*** Emergency response guidelines serve to safeguard animals, research and property, and focus on the continued execution of critical activities during a crisis event.
***Emergency/Crisis Response. ***The Office of Research Services, the NIH Fire Department, and campus Police are working closely with the  DEPC on providing a high level of emergency response capability.
***Coordination.***** **NIH emergency and crisis operations are coordinated with HHS as well as local, state, and federal emergency and response organizations. NIH is also strengthening its internal crisis communications program.

- The NIH EM/COOP Program is designed to ensure the following:

## Coordination with HHS

- Several aspects of the NIH EM/COOP Program are coordinated with HHS.  In order to ensure successful coordination and communication between HHS and NIH, DEPC acts as the liaison with HHS in the following areas:

- Secure communications;
- Secretary’s Emergency Response Team (SERT);
- National-level exercises; and
- Alternate emergency facilities.

## The NIH COOP Plan 

- Currently NIH has a COOP Plan in place that is designed to ensure ***continuity of the NIH mission essential functions*** while also maintaining the health and safety of the NIH employee, patient, and visitor community. It is an overarching strategy aimed at managing and recovering from situations or events that have a direct adverse impact on the operations of NIH.
- The NIH COOP Plan applies to a broad spectrum of human-caused, natural, and technological emergencies and threats such as:

- Natural disasters;
- Technological or human-caused hazards;
- Material and emergency shortages;
- Infrastructure failure.

- The NIH COOP Plan activation addresses various types of emergency events.  It is broken down into four different levels starting from Level 1 (an event impacting part of an NIH building housing essential functions) up to Level 4 (an event impacting the NIH Bethesda Campus or the National Capital Region).

## What is COOP? 

- “COOP is an integral effort...to assure the capability exists to continue essential...functions across a wide range of potential emergencies, including localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological  and/or attack-related emergencies...COOP....is more simply a “**good business practice**” - part of the fundamental mission of federal departments and agencies as responsible and reliable public institutions...All Federal Departments and Agencies...shall have a viable COOP capability.”   _Presidential Decision Directive 67_

- A COOP Plan defines an agency’s strategy for performing essential functions at a relocation site after an emergency affects the habitability of the agency’s primary work location.
- COOP Plan = Specific actions required to _**continue essential functions**_ with _**minimal interruption**_

## Objectives of a COOP Plan

-   The objectives of a COOP Plan include:
- Reducing loss of life
- Minimizing damage and losses;
- Protecting critical facilities, equipment, records, and other assets;
- Ensuring the continuous performance of an agency’s essential functions/operations during an emergency;
- Reducing or mitigating disruptions to operations;
- Achieving a timely and orderly recovery from an emergency and resumption of full service to customers.

## Why is a COOP Plan Needed?

- Takes an all-hazards approach in ensuring the capability exists for an agency to continue its **mission essential functions**.
**Protects and ensures the mission** of an agency during all types of emergency events, with consideration to a rapidly changing and escalating threat environment.
- Establishes an important component of a **comprehensive EM/COOP Program** that aligns activities throughout the NIH.

- A viable COOP Plan:

## The NIH Emergency Support Teams

- The NIH ESTs include:

**The NIH Emergency Support Teams**

## NIH Coordination and Communication

- On February 1, 2004, a fire in Building 30 caused extensive damage to the facility, requiring building occupants to relocate.
- As a result of the fire, several lessons were learned:

- A clear notification process needs to be established;
- Communication between NIH and the ICs needs definition and improvement;
- All ICs must be able to quickly tap NIH resources in emergency events;
- There needs to be a single point of contact for emergency recovery needs at NIH.

- In an effort to remedy the communication and coordination problems that arose during the Building 30 fire, the DEPC is pursuing the following new initiative:

**NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative**

## Table of Contents

- NIH Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations (EM/COOP) Program
- NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative
- Emergency Preparedness
- Resources and Next Steps

**Table of Contents**

## NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative 

- The CRT Initiative lays the foundation for NIH to have a coordinated response in a crisis event by facilitating communication:

**NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative **

- NIH is currently in the process of developing Crisis Response Teams (CRTs) within the NIH Office of the Director and each of the individual Institutes and Centers. The implementation of these Teams will allow for an enhanced and comprehensive communications infrastructure to be utilized to manage crisis response and recovery activities across the NIH.

- Increase coordination and communication across the NIH; and
- Establish a robust and streamlined Crisis Response System.

- Across an IC;
- Between ICs;
- With NIH Leadership; and
- With the DEPC.

## Potential Threats

- There are many scenarios that could disrupt NIH operations and result in the unavailability of NIH facilities. ***A flexible and scalable approach is required to address the spectrum of threats*** shown below.  Each of the events that may impact NIH will vary by magnitude and severity and may require different responses.
**The CRT may be mobilized to respond to the following types of events:**

**Potential Threats**

- Floods;
- Winter Storms;
- Fires;
- Infrastructure Failures (i.e., building fires, power outages); and
- Hazardous Material Spills.

- The above list provides examples of emergency situations that may require CRT activation. The events listed do not include all possible emergency threats.

## Crisis Response Team Structure

**Crisis Response Team Structure**

- The development of this command and control structure will provide each IC with a process to manage operations during an emergency event, and communicate needs to the DEPC to ensure minimal impact to the primary mission of the IC and NIH.

- Each CRT consists of the three basic components and an ***Emergency Coordinator***. This person serves as the IC point of contact and acts as a liaison between their Institute or Center and the DEPC.

**The Leadership Team**
**The Support Team **
**The Functional Team**

## Crisis Response Team Structure, continued 

**Crisis Response Team Structure, continued **

- The _**Leadership Team**_** **provides strategic decision-making, coordination and communication for the IC. The Emergency Coordinator is a part of the Leadership Team and acts as a liaison between the IC and the DEPC.

- The _**Functional Team**_ executes response operations, assesses the impacts of an event on IC mission activities, and recommends initial and follow-up actions to the Leadership Team.

## Crisis Response Teams Link to the NIH COOP Program

_**NIH COOP Organizational Elements**_
**Senior Management Group**
**Senior Management Coordinator**
_**Disaster Recovery Coordinator**_
**NIH Emergency Support Teams**

**Institutes/Centers/OD**

**Crisis Response Teams**

_**Emergency Coordinator**_

**Leadership Team**

**Connection between the IC’s and the NIH Response System**

- The IC Emergency Coordinator is the connection between the IC operations and NIH operations.  The IC Emergency Coordinator coordinates and communicates with the NIH Disaster Recovery Coordinator.

## Table of Contents

- NIH Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations (EM/COOP) Program
- NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative
- Emergency Preparedness
- Resources and Next Steps

**Table of Contents**

## Emergency Preparedness

- Evacuation
- Building re-entry
- Shelter-in-place
- Questions concerning specific building emergency plans should be directed to your Occupant Emergency Coordinator.
- To find your building’s Occupant Emergency Coordinator check the following page on the NIH website:
_**http://ser.ors.od.nih.gov/emergency_prep.htm**_

- NIH is prepared to respond.

**Emergency Preparedness**

## Evacuation

- The NIH has an evacuation plan in place for the NIH Bethesda Campus.
- NIH law enforcement and security will direct traffic movement during a campus evacuation.
- For a campus map with evacuation routes, visit the following page on the NIH website: _**http://parking.nih.gov/evacplan.cfm **_
- For online building evacuation training, visit: _**http://ser.ors.od.nih.gov/emergency_prep.htm**_

**NIH Campus Evacuation**

**Regional Evacuation**

- In an evacuation that involves the entire National Capitol Area, the NIH follows the direction provided by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), General Services Administration (GSA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

- A wide variety of emergencies, both natural and man-made, may require all or parts of NIH facilities to be evacuated.

## Shelter-in-Place

- Shelter-in-place means selecting a small, interior room and taking refuge there until an all-clear signal is received.
- Shelter-in-place generally lasts a couple hours, not days.
- In some cases, employees will be asked to shelter-in-place at their work stations and in others, they will be asked to relocate to a pre-determined shelter location.
- If a shelter-in-place order is issued, the DEPC will notify building Occupant Emergency Coordinators and IC Emergency Coordinators.  Follow the guidance of the building Occupant Emergency Coordinator during a shelter-in-place event.
- The NIH Fire Department and NIH Police will coordinate with the DEPC to ensure timely shelter-in-place of employees and visitors.

- Some emergencies may require employees to shelter-in-place.

## Reporting an Incident

- To report an emergency _on the NIH Bethesda campus_:

- To report an emergency _in an off-campus facility_:

**Call the NIH Emergency Communications Center at 911.**

**Call 9-911 to report the event to the local authorities.**
**Call the NIH Emergency Communications Center at 301-496-5685.**

- Emergency procedures vary according to the type of incident; incident-specific response procedures are outlined on the following slides.

## Reacting to an Incident - Medical Emergencies

- Call 911 (on campus) or 9-911 (off campus).
- In the Clinical Center, call 111 for Clinical Center Code Blue.
- On the NIH campus, the Occupational Medical Service (OMS) will stabilize and, as necessary, refer urgent medical cases to other health care facilities.
- If an NIH employee has a potential blood-borne pathogen exposure, such as HIV or Monkey B virus, after routine hours, call the Clinical Center operator at 301-496-1211 to contact an OMS physician.

## Reacting to an Incident - Fire

- If possible, confine the fire by closing all doors.
- Pull/activate the nearest fire alarm box and notify others in the area of the emergency.
- Call 911 (on campus) or 9-911 (off campus) and report the emergency.
- For those working in a laboratory, if time permits, turn off gas and confine hazardous materials in cabinets.
- Evacuate in an orderly manner. Do not use elevators.

## Reacting to an Incident – Chemical, Biological or Radiological Release

- Leave the room and close doors. Do not open the windows. If applicable and safe to do so, use absorbent material to keep the substance from spreading.
- Remove contaminated clothing/shoes before entering a clean area.
- Wash any body parts that may have come in contact with the material.
- Call 911 (on campus) or 9-911 (off campus) and report the emergency.
- After evacuating, do not permit anyone to enter the area until emergency response personnel determine it is safe.
- Anyone who may be contaminated should be restricted to a single staging area.  Do not move from this area until directed by authorities. Moving from area to area will cause further contaminate and place others at risk.

## Reacting to an Incident – Telephoned Bomb Threat

- When receiving bomb threat DO NOT hang up. Take all threats seriously. Stay calm and take notes. For a bomb threat reference card, visit: _**http://ser.ors.od.nih.gov/documents/bomb_threat_card.xls**_
- Try to determine:
- The exact location of the bomb
- The source of the threat
- What time the bomb will explode
- Background noises that could help identify the caller’s location
- Characteristics of the caller’s voice (gender, age and/or accent)
- Dial *57 immediately to trace the call. Listen for confirmation and hang up. The number of the last call will be reported to the local telephone company.
- Call 911 (on campus) or 9-911 (off campus). Pass on all information to the police.
*Do not activate the fire alarm, this may trigger the bomb.* Listen and follow instructions on how to evacuate.

## Reacting to an Incident – Suspicious Package/Explosive

- Never touch a suspected bomb/explosive.
- Do not use radios and transceiver equipment near the suspected explosive.
- Call 911 (on campus) or 9-911 (off-campus).
- If evacuation is necessary, leave in an orderly manner.

## Reacting to an Incident – Terrorism

- Depending on the nature of the event, the response may vary.
- Always remain calm, monitor radio or television for information, and listen to local, state, and federal authorities for specific instructions and terror threat warnings.
- Call or e-mail your emergency contact and let them know where you are going.
- Be aware of your surroundings. If you see anything suspicious, report it to authorities.

## Emergency Actions At Work

- Employees are encouraged to refer to the following emergency preparedness resources for information on how to handle emergencies that occur during the workday:

**Building Evacuation & Shelter-in-place**** **_**http://ser.ors.od.nih.gov/documents/evac_training.ppt**__**    **_
**NIH Policy Manual, Chapter 1430 – Occupant Evacuation Plan****                                                                                                   **_**http://www1.od.nih.gov/oma/manualchapters/management/1430/main.html**_
**NIH Emergency Preparedness Handbook**** **_**http://ser.ors.od.nih.gov/documents/HandbookFinal.pdf**_
**NIH Radio Station 1660 AM ****	****         **_**http://dtts.ors.od.nih.gov/index.htm**_

## Table of Contents

- NIH Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations (EM/COOP) Program
- NIH Crisis Response Team Initiative
- Emergency Preparedness
- Resources and Next Steps

**Table of Contents**

## The DEPC Homepage

**The DEPC Homepage**

**http://ser.ors.od.nih.gov/emergency_prep.htm**

## Family Emergency Actions

- The ***NIH Emergency Preparedness Handbook*** offers practical guidelines to employees and their families in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from an emergency event.** **

**Family Emergency Actions**

_**Preparing Before an Emergency**_**—**Covers options such as home evacuation plans, family contact cards, emergency preparedness kits, and school/care provider response plans.
_**Responding When an Emergency Happens**_**—**Recommends gathering information, communicating with family, caring for pets, and understanding the actions your child’s school will take.
_**Recovering After the Emergency**_**—**Focuses on the physical and emotional responses that can be seen after an emergency and offers tips for coping.

## Next Steps

_**Take advantage of existing emergency drills.**_  Know what to do during an emergency situation.
_**Create a list of phone numbers**_** **to help you contact colleagues and family members during and after an emergency.
_**Understand what is available to employees.**_**  **Utilize available resources such as the NIH Radio Station (1660 AM), the NIH Intranet, and the NIH Crisis Response Teams.

- Steps you can take to better prepare for an emergency situation:

**Next Steps**