Emergency Management is one of the 19 functional FM knowledge areas that are categorized into four key knowledge domains.

Definition: Emergency management refers to facility management’s preparation for and recovery from adverse occurrences (human-caused, technological, or natural events that constitute threats to organizational personnel, property, operations, or the environment). It may also be referred to as continuity planning, incident response, and disaster recovery.

Emergency management protects an organization by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other human-caused disasters.

For emergency management, the facility manager’s role is to:

• Ensure the safety of human beings first and then protect property and other assets.
• Provide expert advice to the emergency management team (and, in some cases, lead the team) based on knowledge of facility, equipment, and operations as well as occupants and their needs.
• Manage FM staff and resources to support business continuity and recovery.

By planning for an adverse occurrence, facility management can increase stakeholders’ confidence in the ability of leadership to protect and restore the business and can reduce the impact of incidents by increasing the timeliness and quality of responses.

Key Concepts:

• Definition of emergency management.
• Role of FM in emergency management.
• Emergency management model and process.
• Common facility risks.
• Emergency response plans (different types).
• Levels of emergency readiness.
• Role of emergency manager.
• Risk mitigation plans and activities.
• Business continuity management.
• Business impact analysis (BIA).
• Training and drills.
• Incident response.
• Emergency communication plans.
• Evacuation and shelter-in-place procedures.
• Incident recovery plan.
• Incident response debriefing.
• Damage assessment and documentation.
• Incident recovery activities.

Emergency Management Proficiency Indicators (Task Statements)

• Assesses risks (threats and opportunities).
• Develops facility management risk monitoring systems and processes.
• Develops, tests, and implements emergency management plans (e.g., before, during, after phases).
• Develops, tests, and implements business continuity plan for disaster recovery.
• Develops, tests, and trains personnel on emergency systems, plans, and procedures.
• Performs threat analysis (assesses impact).
• Performs damage assessment.
• Identifies roles and responsibilities in emergency management procedures, including communication channels.
• Performs and leads drills for emergency preparedness and response.
• Develops plan and procedures for vacating critical functions from primary site (including IT considerations and systems).
• Assists in implementation of data backup at off-site location (e.g., cold, warm, hot sites).
• Audits risk management activities and plans.
• Leads post-incident debriefs.

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