HLS-Response and Recovery Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

HLS-Response and Recovery - Case Study Example There are numerous events that can cause emergency situations: fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, winter storms, hazardous material incidences, civil disturbance, communications failures, radiological accidents or explosions of any kind (FEMA, 2011). Emergency response and recovery are just two of the components of emergency management. Emergency management is defined by FEMA as â€Å"the process of preparing for, mitigating, responding to and recovering from an emergency†. The response and recovery strategy for organizations should be designed for the benefit of everyone in the organization. The strategy should also support business continuity. Response of an emergency involves mobilizing all the emergency services and first responders to the area that has been hit by an emergency. In the response phase, some of the core emergency services that come in handy include ambulance, firefighters and police. If need be these services may receive support from specialis t rescue teams, it all depends on the type and severity of disaster. The response plan should have the following components: planning, reviewing, training and testing (Department of Homeland Security, 2011). For the response to be successful, the organization would need to prepare an emergency plan that also needs to be well rehearsed. This does help in enhancing the efficiency of the coordination of the rescue mission. While responding to an emergency situation, it is important that the organization maintains both discipline and agility. This, when combined with the formation of a functional leadership rescue team, makes containment of the situation very easy and efficient (Gigliotti and Jason, 1991). A disciplined and agile team involved in response activities within an organization can easily adapt to any changes in the emergency situation and still carry out their rescue mission successfully. The other part of the emergency management strategy of any organization after response is recovery. The main goal of this phase is the restoration of the organization back to its previous state. Unlike response, recovery efforts are focused on addressing the immediate needs of the organization after the rescue mission is complete. Recovery therefore deals with the issues and decisions that will have to be made in order to ensure that the organization’s operations return to normal, or to how they were before disaster struck. Recovery efforts may include the rebuilding of destroyed property and facilities, repair of infrastructure and re-employment (Maniscalso and Christen, 2002). Recovery efforts should always aim to reduce the risks that led to the disaster. For the recovery efforts to be successful, they need to be well planned and executed. What are the key plan components that should be periodically updated? Evacuation plans An organization’s emergency plan needs to be updated regularly in order to conform to the current needs. Reviewing the emergency evacuation plans is one way of ensuring that the response measures that are in place are as current as possible. For instance, if a company expands or changes its facilities, its evacuation plans also need to change to reflect the changes that have occurred. If the company happens to increase its workforce, the emergency evacuation plans will need to be re-evaluated to accommodate the increase in the number of employees.