Emergency Management Training Ideas

If you are new to emergency management or are looking to expand your emergency management training, the following list will help you to establish collaborative relationships with emergency responders, conduct a thorough community assessment and increase your knowledge and skills.

Collaborative Meetings

• The first time you meet the fire chief shouldn't be when your house is on fire. Many communities have networks of emergency professionals who get together on a regular schedule to discuss and plan for new and emerging threats to the area. Attendance at these collaborative meetings provide an excellent training opportunity for emergency managers. It is important to know and understand the work and capacity of service providers in your immediate area including emergency services (fire, police and ambulance services), schools and organizations that serve special need populations including elderly, physically and mentally handicapped or other at-risk populations.

Community Assessment

• Conducting a thorough community assessment can be critical in planning for emergencies and can serve to establish what specific training may be required. Elements of the assessment may include: understanding the population's size and needs, the kinds of emergencies that may occur and how various groups and organizations are prepared to respond. For example, it is not necessary to prepare for a hurricane in the Midwest, but tornadoes and severe thunderstorms are considered realistic threats to both individuals and agriculture. The community assessment can help to identify additional training needs, not previously known.

Basic Skill Development

• Not everyone can be a doctor, but increasing your first aid skills will allow you to provide basic care to your family or co-workers in an emergency. First Aid and CPR classes are offered regularly by the American Red Cross and American Heart Association at locations around the nation. For more information about first aid classes, see the links below.

  In addition, emergency management professionals should be familiar with the systems and protocols of other organizations. For example, an understanding of the central command system and authority used by local, state and federal law enforcement officials can assist service providers in providing efficient and effective service delivery during times of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross offer traditional classroom and online resources to help individuals, businesses and communities to prepare for emergencies.

Practice Drills

• Full-scale and table top practice drills are an excellent opportunity to test the skills, experience and capacity of individuals, organizations and systems and to provide training for emergency management professionals. Practice drills can identify strengths and weaknesses outside of an actual emergency and a post-drill evaluation can facilitate the planning and ultimate solutions necessary for an effective emergency response.