The Incident Management Continuum

The key areas occur and overlap during more than one phase or time period of an incident.

Before the incident: Prevention, protection, and mitigation actions are taken to stop an incident or reduce its impact.
During the incident: Response activities focus on life safety and then the recovery process begins. During this phase, it is critical to continue prevention and protection actions for a related or new incident.
Following the incident: Response and recovery activities include how best to incorporate prevention, protection, and mitigation measures to be better prepared for the next incident.

The five phases of the emergency management continuum: prevention, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation. Pre-incident, incident, and post-incident noted and indicating the phases with which each interconnects

It is important to understand the need to integrate the key areas in your planning efforts during each phase to ensure your school’s overall preparedness. The rest of this lesson presents information on what your school can do to address each key area.