Why You Should Care About NIMS and NFPA Standards
Campus officials should have a clear understanding of NIMS, NFPA 1600 and NFPA 1561, as well as incorporate these codes into their emergency management programs. This first part of our three-part series discusses how both public and private sector institutions that do this can reduce their exposure to litigation in the aftermath of an incident and be better able to respond to the event itself.
The third method would be to take the two standards and the applicable sections of the NIMS document, and develop a checklist of all the requirements; then evaluate the program against the checklist. This is useful because it actually performs an audit to the requirements — a self-assessment so to speak. The difficulty in this method, however, is that it is unlikely the program will be that straightforward and allow point-by-point comparison. This will cause the evaluation to take significantly longer than expected, while the person evaluating the program conducts an extensive recon mission to find the relevant information.
NIMS compliance can be judged based on the evaluation tools on NIMSCAST, but it only judges the incident command portion of the overall program.
3rd-Party Assessments Can Help Campuses
Given that the standards encompass an all-hazards approach, the logical solution and method would incorporate all the previous methods mentioned above, as well as the inclusion of additionally beneficial aspects. This is accomplished by means of a third-party assessment and certification of the program.
The distinct advantage to this method is that it will provide completely impartial and unbiased evaluation along with program accountability. It proactively establishes the objectivity necessary for determining the most accurate reflection of compliance to the standards, and effectively judges any NIMS compliance. Third-party auditors are seasoned professionals that are able to move through the program quickly and with little effort. This saves time, workforce resources and money. It also provides recognition to all personnel involved and instills confidence with the public at-large.
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Cracking the Codes: NFPA Standards Basics
The following standards either apply to both public and private campuses, or provide the basis for the National Incident Management System (NIMS):
- NFPA 1600: The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1600 Standard for Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs is an all-hazards approach that gives those who are responsible for emergency management a common set of criteria and nomenclature to develop, implement, maintain and evaluate a program.
The standard is endorsed by FEMA and DHS and is to be applied to the development of emergency management programs in both the public and private sectors. In 2004, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved NFPA 1600 as an American National Standard, which was reapproved for the revised 2007 edition.
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NFPA 1561: The NFPA 1561 Standard on Emergency Services Incident Management System contains the minimum requirements necessary for an effective incident management system. This is an applicable incident management standard and is intended for use by emergency services to manage all emergency incidents. It should be pointed out that the NFPA 1561 standard was preceded by a standard developed in the 1970s through the work of the Firefighting Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies (FIRESCOPE). FIRESCOPE-ICS was originally developed in response to wildfire incidents and defined the concepts of the incident command system (ICS) that are used to address disasters and/or emergencies of all types.
FIRESCOPE-ICS and NFPA 1561 were the predecessors of NIMS. Since the FIRESCOPE-ICS and NFPA 1561 standards were already developed and implemented on a wide scale around the country, it became a simpler task for the government to define how the incident command system would work within a national framework (NIMS).
- HSPD-5: To understand NIMS, one must understand it in the context of its origin, the HSPD-5. This system provides a consistent nationwide template to enable governments and private sector and nongovernmental organizations to work together effectively and efficiently to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents. This document establishes the basic elements of NIMS and provides mechanisms for the further development and refinement of supporting national standards, guidelines, protocols, systems and technologies.
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New Federal Standards Might Not Be as Voluntary as You Think
On Aug. 3, President George Bush signed into law House Bill HR-1, or as it is known by its short title as; “‘Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.” The significance of this law to the private sector lies buried within all of the bill’s legal language. Campus emergency management personnel should not be misled by the term “voluntary” when referring to private sector preparedness and certification. There are many examples of voluntary international quality and environmental standards becoming mandates through industry codes of practice or industry consensus groups. The JCAHO accreditation (certification) for healthcare would also be an example of voluntary codes/standards used in determining eligibility for federal monies. Based on the critical nature of campus security, safety and preparedness, a similar scenario would not be out of the realm of possibility.
Overall, the bill has the expected provisions dealing with security and performance grants, critical infrastructure, intelligence, transportation security and terrorism prevention. Those charged with emergency management in the private sector, however, should pay particular attention to Title IX – Private Sector Preparedness. The key elements are required by the NFPA 1600 standard.
Title IX, section 524 – Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program – deals specifically with the development and implementation of an accreditation scheme to ensure certifications that are granted to private entities are valid. It sets forth the general criteria for such accreditation bodies and the oversight requirements the body must require of itself and any certifying agency or entity to which the body grants accreditation. Any third-party certification entity must also comply with these criteria.
This law now places the correct tools for effective emergency management planning into the hands of the campus safety professional and a means to confirm the plans validity through third-party certification.
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In the next article we will explore how to use the NFPA 1600, NFPA 1561 and NIMS to develop a viable emergency management and business continuity program.
Mark A. Messler is the technical director for the National Emergency Management Registrars, or NEMR, a certification/registration body dedicated to private sector certification of disaster/emergency management and business continuity programs.
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