CIP Update

October 03, 2008

This newsletter is for public agencies, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders involved or interested in public-private partnerships for joint emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

 

Michigan State University (MSU) produces the newsletter through the Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)-Community Facilitation Program under a grant awarded by the Training & Exercise Integration/Training Operations, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This newsletter provides ideas, suggestions, best practices, and lessons learned to establish critical incident protocols using public-private partnerships.

 

Michigan State University through the CIP Program will “enhance cities, counties, and region’s capabilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters through public and private sector collaboration, communication, and cooperation.”  MSU facilitates public-private partnerships and the CIP Program is free of charge to participating communities.

 

Please visit our website at www.cip.msu.edu for more information about the program.

 

Participating Communities in the CIP Program
The CIP Program has been initiated in 44 communities in 23 states with over 3,500 participants establishing community public-private partnerships for joint management of critical incidents. We are looking to work with other cities, counties and regions. Is there a location in the nation that you think may be interested in developing a public-private partnership? If so, please let us know.

 

Currently, we are working with the following communities:
Alabama:  Hoover
Arizona:  Casa Grande
California:  Mountain View
Colorado:  Littleton
Connecticut:  Norwalk

Florida:  Western Panhandle
Illinois:  Lake-Cook Regional, Libertyville, Naperville
Indiana:  Evansville
Kansas:  Douglas County
Maryland:  Annapolis, Carroll County, Rockville
Michigan:  Detroit, Marquette County, Monroe, Oakland County
Missouri/Illinois:  Gateway Citizen Corps Coalition, St. Louis
Montana:  Lewis & Clark County
Nevada:  Clark County
North Carolina:  Buncombe County, Greensboro
Ohio:  Brooklyn
Pennsylvania:  Allentown, Bethlehem, Northampton County, Perkiomen Valley

South Carolina:  Columbia, Horry County
Texas:  Dallas
Utah:  Layton, Sandy City
Virginia:  Arlington County, Richmond
Washington:  Redmond
Wisconsin:  Brown County, Dane County, Eau Claire County, Milwaukee, Outagamie County, Racine County, Superior, Winnebago County

CIP Program Activities

October 7, 2008:  Dane County, WI (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)

October 16, 2008:  Clark County, NV (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)

October 21, 2008:  Atlanta, GA (IEDC Conference)

October 29, 2008:  Richmond, VA (EPA Conference)

December 01, 2008: Lake-Cook Regional, IL (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)

December 11, 2008: Outagamie County, WI (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)

 

Welcome Detroit, Michigan to the CIP Partnership

Please welcome the city of Detroit to the CIP Program.  Detroit is the 11th most populated city in the nation, and a major port city on the Detroit River which separates the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes region. 

 

This partnership was based on the vision of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. and the Detroit Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.  Key downtown businesses, various public sector entities and other stakeholder organizations were well represented while the participants discussed assessing risks, using the Incident Command System/Unified Command, and opportunities to collaborate through joint training, exercising, and planning processes.

 

Many organizations in Detroit have been working together for a long time and the CIP Program enhanced their collaboration for crisis management in the downtown area.

 

Welcome Naperville, Illinois to the CIP Partnership

Please welcome the city of Naperville, which is the 44th community to participate in the CIP Program.  To date, 3,500 public and private sector key decision-makers are focusing on preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery relative to their organizations and communities at large.

 

Naperville is a rapidly growing, progressive city.  Located west of Chicago, Naperville was ranked by Money magazine as one of the top five best mid-size cities and places to live in the United States.  The Naperville Fire Department, Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, and other co-chairs of Community Emergency Network Team (CENT); Tellabs, and Nicor co-sponsored the CIP Program.  Over a year ago, several businesses, the chamber of commerce and city leaders formed CENT to discuss preparedness, response, and recovery topics.

 

Statistics on Emergency Preparedness

Recently, the CIP staff shared emergency preparedness statistics with other organizations.  Occasionally, the readers of this newsletter have requested statistical data which may benefit their programs.

 

For every dollar invested in prevention, four dollars can be saved in disaster response costs, according to the U.S. National Institute of Building Services (in World Economic Forum, 2008).  To access the World Economic Forum report, please go to: http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/isdr-publications/joint-pub/building-resilience-natural-disasters-wef.pdf.

 

The University of Texas reports that only 6% of companies suffering from a “catastrophic” data loss survive; 43% never reopen; and 51% close within two years.  To view additional information, please go to: http://iosafe.com/industry-stats.

 

Datapro Research Company found that 43% of companies hit by a “severe crisis” never reopened, and another 29% fail within two years.  To learn more from this report, please visit their website at: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-649866891.html.

 

The following statistics are derived from a 2008 survey of 461 businesses in the greater Las Vegas area:

o       74% of businesses had “never” attended a meeting on disaster preparedness

o       64% of businesses had never received written information on disaster preparedness

o       59% had never purchased business interruption insurance

o       48% had never developed a business-disaster recovery plan

o       More than 40% of businesses would classify a 2-day to 7-day shutdown as devastating.

 

To read the full article, please go to: http://lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2008/02/25/news/iq_19819486.txt.

 

Free Resource Guide for Protection of Critical Infrastructure

This 118-page guide is easy to use, has numerous public and private sector resources, and was developed by public and private sector professionals from the 18 critical infrastructure and key resource sectors.  It is not intended to be all-inclusive and was designed to provide quick, comprehensive guidelines.  The Critical Infrastructure Resource Guide is provided by the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), the world’s largest association of security professionals. 

 

To download a copy, please go to the ASIS website at http://www.asisonline.org.  On the main page, look for Hot Topics, then Critical Infrastructure and scroll down to select the Critical Infrastructure Resource Guide.  Follow the directions to download a free copy.  You may also download the document from our CIP Information Exchange website.  The directions to enter the website are listed below in the Recent Postings to the CIP Information Exchange Website.  After you enter the website, on the main menu open the first folder – Bulletin Board…Communities and go down to the folder labeled Resource Guide for Critical Infrastructure Protection (ASIS) and open it.  Then you can download it. 

 

Los Angeles BICEPP / A Public-Private Partnership Organization

The CIP staff at Michigan State University profiles public-private partnership organizations so that you are aware of the latest information and have additional resources for partnership building.

 

In 1983, Los Angeles, California created a formal partnership organization.  According to the organization’s website, “the mayor of Los Angeles and a group of business leaders met to discuss disaster preparedness. This group subsequently became a steering committee and formed the Business and Industry Council for Emergency Planning and Preparedness (BICEPP).”  Further, “BICEPP was established as a private sector, self-help association funded by annual sponsorship donations. BICEPP later evolved into a non-profit corporation, lead by an Executive Committee and a Board of Directors.  Their goal is, “To provide a forum for information exchange to enhance emergency preparedness and contingency planning within the business community.”

 

For more information, such as on meetings, training, newsletters and more, please go to: www.BICEPP.org.

 

Resources for Developing Risk Mitigation Plan for Facilities

A free resource for developing a new plan or comparing your plans and procedures on risk management was recently released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce. This extensive 182-page document, which is A Guide to Printed and Electronic Resources for Developing a Cost-Effective Risk Management Plan for New and Existing Construction Facilities contains substantial information.

 

It lists risk assessment and management resources, economic evaluation guidance, establishing objectives and constraints, developing alternate strategies, government policies, and more.

 

You may download it from: http://www.fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build07/PDF/b07011.pdf.

 

Disaster Recovery – The Weakest Link

There are four phases of emergency management: preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery.  Agencies, businesses and non-profit organizations begin with preparedness, which includes developing plans of action when a crisis strikes.  Mitigation can reduce or prevent disasters from occurring or expanding.  Response includes the activities needed to mobilize resources into the disaster area.  Finally, recovery restores the affected disaster area to its previous normal state.

 

In public-private partnerships for joint crisis management, the weakest link is the recovery phase.  Public emergency responders typically focus on planning, mitigation, and response efforts in providing services to the private sector.  Of course, those communities and regions that collaborate or partner with the business community draw in the expertise from multiple partners to further enhance the level of ‘joint’ crisis management.  Yet, what is also needed across the nation is for partners to take their emergency management program to the next level and start discussing how expedite the ability of the affected businesses and non-profit organizations to recover from a disaster.

 

Public and private leadership that mutually agree to focus on creating programs to enhance recovery for the private sector will understand that it accelerates this process.  Ultimately, this leads to thriving communities that can direct efforts of the public emergency responders to address other needs.  Additionally, this may assist the private sector in strengthening its commitment to the community as well as additional revenue for the business and government. 

 

In 2005, in Sandy City, Utah, we designed and facilitated a tabletop exercise scenario that involved an explosion and fire at a shopping mall.  The scenario included both public and private sector response.  Normally, after the critical incident is over, most public agencies have completed the main portion of their tasks and responsibilities.  At this point, the devastated business picks up the pieces and attempts to resume normal operations.  Depending upon the impact of the disaster, it may take hours, days, or months to recover, or it can also lead to eventual bankruptcy. 

 

However, in Sandy City the government provided a comprehensive joint recovery plan during this exercise, which included:

o       Using the Redevelopment Agency Program, the city can provide any needed gap financing to the shopping mall to help in restoration.

o       Utilizing city volunteers, they will distribute accurate information about the event to reduce fear or panic in the community, in addition to providing details of the city’s response and improvements prior to a future incident. 

o       The Joint Information Center (JIC) will coordinate with the marketing efforts of the mall to resume normal operations. 

o       The Salt Lake County Valley Mental Health Department will be used to support mall employees with counseling. 

o       The city will expedite the process of obtaining permits for rebuilding and repairing damaged portions of the mall. 

o       The city will continue their investigative efforts.

o       A post-incident assessment (these are done routinely) will be completed with city personnel to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the response and recovery efforts.  The city will subsequently communicate the findings to the general public. 

o       The city’s Economic Development Department will continue to coordinate marketing efforts with the mall. 

o       The mall will receive additional security support from the police department for a period of time to assure customers and tourists that it is safe.

 

The above actions could assist the shopping mall to recover quicker.  What is your community doing to assist businesses and non-profit organizations to enhance their disaster recovery procedures?

 

Recent Postings to the CIP Information Exchange Website
The CIP Information Exchange website is a large database for public and private sector professionals interested in homeland security, emergency preparedness, business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency management.  It also contains research publications, government documents, news items, and more.

 

To enter the ‘CIP Information Exchange’ website, you can either access it through our main website at www.cip.msu.edu and click on ‘members only’, which will redirect you to https://angel.msu.edu and click on Angel Guest Account from the drop-down menu.  Click on ‘proceed’ and in the next webpage box, enter “msu.msu” in the Angel Guest User box and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password and then click on Log On. On the next page, click on Critical Incident Protocol (CIP) – Community Facilitation, which then launches you to the main menu.

 

Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of recent postings, including:

·        To Protect and Defend: Challenges to Public Safety and Homeland Security (IACP)

·        Building Infrastructure Resiliency: Private Sector Investment in Homeland Security

·        Update on Nation’s Counter-Terrorism Efforts (U.S. Justice Department)

 

There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, utilize the "search" function. 

 

Past Newsletters
If you are interested in viewing past CIP Update newsletters, please go to www.cip.msu.edu and select "Newsletters" from the main menu.

 

Closing
If you have any topics and/or ideas for a future CIP Update newsletter, please contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227 or other MSU staff members. About every three weeks you will receive this newsletter via email. If you no longer wish to be on this list, please reply to this email.

 

Disclaimer
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or Michigan State University.