Administrators Responsibilities | Emergency Management & Mission Continuity

Emergency Management and Mission Continuity

1. Authority and Responsibility

Major responsibilities that cannot be delegated:

Accountability for emergency and business continuity planning, and maintaining a state of readiness for emergencies of any size.
Responsibility for regulatory compliance with regard to public safety, and protection of university property, financial operations, and the environment.
Responsibility to direct periodic training so that all employees are prepared to take proper action during an emergency.

2. Delegations

Major responsibilities that can be delegated:

Establishing and implementing local business continuity plans to ensure restoration of critical functions after any emergency. Critical business functions are those actions or activities that would prevent the department from recovering and resuming business operations necessary to ensure continuation of the university’s mission of teaching, research and public service.
Establishing and implementing local emergency action plans to ensure personnel are aware of actions to take during an emergency as required in the Department Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). Tasks could include evacuation of the building, locking cash drawers, protecting research or preserving documents.
Authority to order evacuation of the floor, building, or other areas of unit responsibility when an emergency exists.

3. Areas of Potential Risk

A vulnerability assessment of risks from natural, technological, human and terrorist hazards is conducted at regular intervals. These hazards have the potential to cause harm to all elements of the campus and/or disrupt normal business operations.
Departments can mitigate some of their exposure to these risks by ensuring emergency and business continuity plans are in place and that all employees are aware of their part in those plans.
The Administrative Official should work with campus resources to develop and implement these plans.
Plans must consider continuation of business functions even during times of budgetary constraints, strikes, retirement of key employees or high employee absenteeism.
The Administrative Official must be prepared to utilize campus resources (i.e., counseling services) as well as department resources (i.e.: alternate location of services to locations under department’s control) to deal with the aftermath of emergencies.

4. Resources

Department

Policies/Procedures