Public works professionals play a vital role in all phases of emergency management.

They provide valuable input during the planning process, supply critical services during response and recovery operations, and help to reduce the risk of future losses by serving as the community’s champion for mitigation projects.

In some communities, public works is the lead agency for any emergency event, and the director of public works may also be the director of emergency management. Participation by public works is an integral part of any jurisdiction’s emergency planning efforts.

Interagency coordination, communication, and collaboration are vital to achieve the most effective, efficient response possible.

Public works is one of the first responders on the scene when a disaster strikes.

During response efforts, public works professionals perform essential services like clearing roadways, assessing damage, removing debris, restoring utilities, and managing emergency traffic.

They also provide technical support to other responders, such as supplying water for fire suppression or equipment for search and rescue operations.

Public works plays a predominant role during the recovery period by continuing damage assessment, cleanup, and restoration of services.

In the year following Hurricane Katrina, public infrastructure projects in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana totaled over $4.8 billion.

In those states that year, public works officials completed 1.3 million housing inspections and removed nearly one hundred million cubic yards of debris– enough to fill 20 Superdomes.

On average, 68% of the funding awarded by the Federal government for major disaster declarations each year is used for debris removal, roads and bridges, water control facilities, public buildings, and public utilities.

The National Preparedness Goal presents an integrated, layered, and whole community approach to preparedness. The Goal, itself, is a result of contributions from the whole community. It recognizes that everyone can contribute to and benefit from national preparedness efforts.

All communities should have a standing mitigation committee, and the public works professional should have a permanent place at the table. When mitigation priorities are identified, they will likely fall heavily in the public works arena. Countless possibilities for mitigation exist when considering infrastructure improvements alone.

For this reason, the public works agency is often the architect of a disaster-resistant community, and identifying mitigation opportunities is a continuous process for public works professionals. When mitigation funds become available, they are often allocated for projects that will improve public infrastructure and facilities because these components are essential for protecting the health and safety of the community’s citizens.

Select the link provided to view examples of mitigation opportunities for public works.

Public works agencies take a lead role as the community begins to move from response into recovery. Priorities established in the preparedness and response phases are used for establishing recovery priorities, although they may change based on new developments and current information.

Restoration of lifelines is most often viewed as the first priority for the public works function. With the restoration of utilities, services, and other infrastructure, all agencies can better perform and the community begins to return to normality.

When emergency planning teams are established, public works representation is essential to ensure that all key planning elements are included. Preparedness includes a thorough evaluation of priorities specific to public works as well as the overall functions of the government agency as a whole. Without this evaluation, delayed response or recovery efforts will surely result.

Coordination among different agencies is essential to ensure a quick response and recovery and must be considered during the community’s planning efforts. It is important to build interagency relationships through regular training and exercise that includes public works as well as all other appropriate agencies.

Establishing partnerships early on will help to educate other agencies about the capabilities of public works so their services are called upon when needed. Unified training will support successful unified response.

The planning team should identify the potential need for mutual aid or contract services to support the public works effort. A mutual aid agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) should be put in place before a disaster strikes that can be activated quickly when there is a known approaching danger.

Select the link provided to learn more about the tasks that public works agencies perform to support planning efforts.

Each level of government has a specific role to play in emergency management.

All disasters are local. The citizens in the area where the event occurs, as well as their local or tribal governments and voluntary agencies, are the first to have to cope with the damage.

It is the responsibility of local and tribal government to manage an incident from beginning to end—through prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. The ability to accomplish these tasks is largely dependent upon the local and tribal government seeking the partnerships and participants necessary to accomplish their goals.

When a local jurisdiction does not have the resources it needs to respond to a disaster, it turns to mutual aid and the state government for assistance. When a tribal government does not have the resources it needs to respond to a disaster, it may turn to mutual aid and the state government for assistance, or as a sovereign entity, exercise its ability to go directly to federal agencies for assistance.

State/Tribal governments provide support and additional resources for local governments and serve as agents for the local jurisdictions if federal disaster assistance is needed. Local governments cannot directly access federal programs; instead, the states/tribes work with FEMA to access federal programs and support.

When a disaster strikes and is so severe that the local governments and the state governments together cannot provide the needed resources, then the federal government becomes the source for those resources.

The federal government provides financial and other assistance to states, local governments, and tribal communities in support of response, recovery, and mitigation efforts. The federal role in emergency management also provides for published guidance, training, and education.

The Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 (SRIA) amends the Stafford Act to authorize Tribal governments to request a declaration of an emergency or major disaster. Previously Tribal governments were treated as local governments and thus not permitted to directly request disaster declarations from the Federal government. The SRIA also amends the Stafford Act to include federally recognized Indian Tribal governments in numerous references to state and local governments within the Stafford Act.

For additional information on the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended (including SRIA updates), go to https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1394805512529-69dda27af3e128a1406387d288fd162c/SRIA+Overview+Fact+Sheet+and+Status+Updated+03042014_508.pdf.

The Public Assistance (PA) program provides assistance to tribal, state, and local governments, and to certain private nonprofit organizations. To be eligible, the work must be disaster related, located in the designated declaration area, be the responsibility of the applicant, and not be funded by insurance or another federal agency.

The PA request must come from the local government through state government. Funding flows from federal to state to local. A tribal government may go through the state, or directly to FEMA. The federal government provides briefings at times of disaster and training to local, tribal, and state governments for the declaration process, the subsequent requests for PA, as well as response and recovery activity.

Types of eligible work are listed in the table below.

To effectively prevent an incident from occurring, prepare for one that can’t be prevented, or mitigate the effect on the community, it is important for public works to establish partnerships with other local or tribal agencies, state and federal agencies, voluntary organizations, community groups, local businesses, and the media. It is also important to gain support and participation from community leaders, elected officials, and others such as the medical community and utility groups.

Planning for an event at the local or tribal level includes some basic elements to assure a comprehensive and integrated approach.

In order to establish priorities we looked at our critical infrastructure and our key resources, so for example, main arterials going through the city, specific public facilities and grounds that we thought were key critical infrastructure. We looked at our traffic patterns; we also looked at environmental management – our city is divided by a river – and what happens if we have a flood? Then you need to look at, as well, your water, wastewater, utilities, transit systems – those are all critical infrastructure or key resources that every city depends on.

Public works is based on the protection of life. So each individual community, no matter how small, has to look at their critical infrastructure and the key resources that they have to be able to do the risk, vulnerability, and damage assessments.

State government will perform planning and prevention activity, and coordinate the same with local and sometimes tribal agencies. In all emergency management activity, state government will assist local and sometimes tribal governments in planning, preparation, training, and exercises.

State communication plans include all local governments and provide assistance during incidents or disasters. They may also include tribal governments. Continuity of resources is no less important at the state level than for local or tribal government. State officials should make the additional backup contacts available to local or tribal officials along with contact information. It is also important that this information remain current.

State government will participate with the public information process, having its own Public Information Officers (PIOs). Much of the public health and public safety issues for local and tribal government have a state component as well.

Response and recovery efforts will proceed more smoothly through effective coordination among various levels of governments. In addition, most state governments have resources that may be made available to assist with response and recovery at the local level. State resources will be made available and may be expanded through interstate agreements called Emergency Management Assistance Compacts (EMACs). If state and local or tribal resources are insufficient, the Governor or Indian Tribal Government Chief Executive can request federal disaster assistance.

Because most major roadways belong to the state highway system, evacuations require close coordination between local, tribal, and state officials. Local or tribal public works agencies may be called upon to assist in evacuations, through activities such as dispatching barricades and signs.

After-action review of any large incident should include state, tribal, and local officials working together, including public works representation. Many lessons learned include issues that will either affect both levels of government or issues that can be improved only through cohesive, coordinated efforts.

Low-cost or no-cost training opportunities are available to federal, state, local, and tribal governmental officials though the FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI), the federal government’s primary emergency management training facility. Some training is also available to voluntary agencies and the private sector. EMI training focuses on an integrated approach to emergency management and the five mission areas and core capabilitites of the National Preparedness Goal.

FEMA also produces many publications that are made available to state, local, and tribal governments, such as how-to guides and best practices for mitigation. In addition, FEMA maintains a website that educates citizens, business owners, and children about preparedness measures.

Select this link to access FEMA EMI’s training website.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together seamlessly and manage incidents involving all threats and hazards—regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity—in order to reduce loss of life, property and harm to the environment.

The purpose of the NIMS is to provide a common approach for managing incidents. The concepts provide for a flexible but standardized set of incident management practices with emphasis on common principles, a consistent approach to operational structures and supporting mechanisms, and an integrated approach to resource management.

Incidents typically begin and end locally, and they are managed daily at the lowest possible geographical, organizational, and jurisdictional level. There are other instances where success depends on the involvement of multiple jurisdictions, levels of government, functional agencies, and/or emergency-responder disciplines. These instances necessitate effective and efficient coordination across this broad spectrum of organizations and activities. By using NIMS, communities are part of a comprehensive national approach that improves the effectiveness of emergency management and response personnel across the full spectrum of potential threats and hazards (including natural hazards, terrorist activities, and other human-caused disasters) regardless of size or complexity.

The National Response Framework (NRF) is a guide to how the Nation responds to all types of disasters and emergencies. The NRF describes specific authorities and best practices for managing incidents that range from the serious but purely local to large-scale terrorist attacks or catastrophic natural disasters.

This Framework is always in effect, and elements can be implemented at any time. It is built on scalable, flexible, and adaptable concepts identified in the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The structures, roles, and responsibilities described in the NRF can be partially or fully implemented in the context of a threat or hazard, in anticipation of a significant event, or in response to an incident. Selective implementation of NRF structures and procedures allows for a scaled response, delivery of the specific resources and capabilities, and a level of coordination appropriate to each incident.

Select this link to access a copy of the National Response Framework (2 MB).

The NIMS and NRF are companion documents and are designed to improve the Nation’s incident management and response capabilities. While NIMS provides the template for the management of incidents regardless of size, scope or cause, the NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for national level policy of incident response.

Together, the NIMS and the NRF integrate the capabilities and resources of various governmental jurisdictions, incident management and emergency response disciplines, non-governmental organizations, and the private-sector into a cohesive, coordinated, and seamless national framework for domestic incident response.

In this lesson, you learned how each level of government works with the others during all phases of emergency management, within the structure provided in the NIMS and NRF.

As you’ve learned, the opportunity for successful emergency management occurs when a unified effort exists. All stakeholders must be invited into the process, and individual roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined.

The local government maintains control of all assets used in the response and recovery efforts, regardless of the source of those assets. Local governments must plan and prepare for this role with the support of the state and federal governments.

ESF #3 assists the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by coordinating and organizing the capabilities and resources of the federal government to facilitate the delivery of services, technical assistance, engineering expertise, construction management, and other support to prepare for, respond to, and/or recover from a disaster or an incident requiring a coordinated federal response.

ESF #3 is structured to provide support from public works and engineering for the changing requirements of domestic incident management to include preparedness, response, and recovery actions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the ESF coordinator and primary agency for response for ESF #3.

As you’ve learned, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is our nation’s incident management doctrine and supports the National Response Framework. State and local governments are required to adopt this system in order to receive federal preparedness assistance in the form of grants and contracts.

Public works departments and their employees are key players in emergency management and should use the guidance and resources offered through NIMS. These resources will supplement the training that public works professionals participate in and will significantly contribute to a successful emergency management program.

NIMS includes five components designed to work together, as shown on the graphic.

This element provides for a standardized incident management structure made up of three components:

• Incident Command System
• Multiagency Coordination Systems
• Public Information

Each of these components will be discussed on the following pages of this lesson.

One of the key features of NIMS is the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS provides a structure for on-scene all-hazards incident management so that all agencies can manage an incident with the same organizational structure, nationwide.

The Incident Command System incorporates common terminology, management by objectives, incident action planning, span of control, resource management, unified communications, and management of information. Within the ICS structure, an Incident Management Team (IMT) may be initiated.

The second component of Command and Management in NIMS is Multiagency Coordination Systems (MACS). Multiagency coordination is a process that allows all levels of government and all disciplines to work together more efficiently and effectively. A MACS is often initiated when there are multiple jurisdictions, multiple agencies and possibly multiple events. Examples of MACS are state, local, or tribal Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs).

FEMA’s IS-701a NIMS MACS independent study course presents more detailed training on Multiagency Coordination Systems. In addition, your state emergency management office may offer the G-400 Advanced ICS course.

The final element in the NIMS component for command and management is Public Information. Public information includes the process of collecting and disseminating information to all stakeholders including the media and the public. Well-managed public information supports all emergency management activity.

In this lesson, you’ve learned how the public works professional uses the National Response Framework (NRF), the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and the Incident Command System (ICS).

The National Preparedness Resource Library is a tremendous tool for all local emergency and agency managers, including public works. It is continually updated and evaluated for the needs of local managers.

In any event of a significant nature, local or tribal resources are immediately pushed beyond their means. Managing human resources is the responsibility of all local and tribal professionals, including the public works professional.

An important issue to be considered when managing human resources is the possibility that employees may be victims themselves. If so, the employees will need some time to attend to their families or personal needs. Management can assist these employees by actions such as providing meals, cashing payroll when banks are closed, or providing fuel for personal vehicles when gas stations are closed.

Even if the employees were not directly impacted by the incident, personal loss and stress will take its toll. Local and tribal professionals should make crisis counseling available to any employee who requests it. Managers themselves should not shy away from counseling, as the stress level for them is significant as well.

Human resource needs may be supported through the private sector, contractors, volunteers, and mutual aid agreements with other communities.

Select the links provided to learn more about how the private sector and volunteers can provide for resource needs.

A mutual aid agreement is an agreement between jurisdictions or agencies to provide services across boundaries in the event of an emergency or major disaster.

The local or tribal community should seek mutual aid agreements with nearby communities or other tribal governments as well as communities that are 100-200 miles away. During large events, neighboring communities may be affected in a similar way, so a mutual aid agreement with a community some distance away will be beneficial to ensure availability of services or resources that are not in use already.

The conditions of the agreement can be to provide reciprocal services or direct payment for services. The costs for these services may be eligible for reimbursement. The employees of the entity providing supplemental assistance are considered as extra hires or contract labor; therefore, both regular and overtime labor are eligible.

Select the link provided to learn about the conditions under which expenses may be reimbursed.

The local or tribal community must consider whether it is able to finance the response and recovery from an incident or disaster. While Federal funding may provide reimbursement for much of the cost, it does not appear overnight. The financial team for the local or tribal government should evaluate possible funding mechanisms to support local efforts until Federal funds are made available as well as to supplement Federal funds. It is advisable to maintain a reserve fund for disaster-related cash flow purposes.

All local and tribal professionals, including the public works professional, should review the information found in the Financial Management Support Annex of the National Response Framework for additional financial management guidance.

Select the link provided to learn about the Financial Management Support Annex.

In an emergency environment, there is often the need to move quickly in the purchasing of goods and services. Therefore, procurement practices are likely to change in these situations. Where the normal procedure may be to offer for bid with a due date in 60 days or more, the need to respond will not allow for such a time table. It is advisable for the local or tribal agency to prepare an emergency procurement ordinance/procedure to address the changes. A thorough legal review of all such procedures is advised.

The use of prearranged contracts or agreements is also a key function of procurement. Prearranged agreements may be used in public works functions such as debris management, inspection services, and utility restoration.

Proper documentation is vital to effective emergency management. All local and tribal government officials should engage in the development of documentation procedures to ensure a comprehensive process.

An important part of these procedures is defining, during the planning process, what individuals and agencies will be responsible for documentation during a local or tribal event. The planning section generally has that responsibility in an organization operating under the Incident Command System (ICS) with an Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

The benefits of accurate and complete documentation include accountability, improved after-action analysis, improvement to future plans, communication with all stakeholders, reduced litigation opportunity, and justification for cost reimbursements.

Select the link provided to learn more about information to be documented and the importance of cost justification.

Gary Eaton

Some of the obstacles that we all face are limited resources, we continually have staff turnover and different availability issues with critical skills, time issues, there’s always the “there’s no time to exercise” comments that you hear, training, dollars available for training. One of the things that we’ve done here is that, about every year we shut down our aqueduct system in order to do internal inspection of the facilities to make sure that we’ve got no problems that are brewing that we’re not aware of, and so we go in and we perform a visual inspection. When we’re doing this, we activate our EOC, and we use the same emergency response forms that we would use, the same terminology, so we treat a non-emergency kind of as an emergency and use it as an opportunity to drill our people. It’s worked very well for us and when we are in an actual emergency situation we find that more people are trained up, and because they’re used to the terminology and how we normally operate, doesn’t seem to be as difficult a transition. I know it’s improved our safety and overall our communication and response time as well.

Christine Walsh

I think obstacles that public works faces are quite varied because of the complexity of public works, so in the City of Beloit, for instance, we developed our own mutual aid agreement. And then resource procurement during a flood or a winter storm, tornado – whatever type – public works is normally responsible for procuring goods. A way to overcome some of those is to have contracts set in place prior to.

Even if it is, you want cases of water for employees or you need chain saws – you know, what is it that you truly need? Those should be contracts that you work out and, and what we decided in our city was to work with our private companies in the city before we went out of the city.

You need to look at how else can you get help for your community, to get your community as quickly through the disaster and into recovery as possible.

Gregg Varner

When a disaster is coming, and if you know it’s coming like in the event of a hurricane, you start keeping records immediately. And then if it’s something that you weren’t able to plan for, like a tornado or an earthquake, keeping records and keeping logs and project reports and all that starts immediately. And the people you assign that to may very well be victims themselves, and they may not show up. So what’s really important is that you have a secondary and maybe even a tertiary appointment of who’s going to do that kind of work, record-keeping, and the like, and that they are trained. The training is critical, and then you practice that, when you do exercises.

In this lesson, you learned that the public works professional must be actively involved in the development of administrative policies and procedures for emergency management. This lesson has reviewed the issues that the public works professional must consider during policy development.

As defined in the National Incident Management System (NIMS), public information programs are the systems and protocols critical during crisis or emergency situations for communicating timely and accurate information to the public.

The public information mission during an incident is to get accurate, understandable information to the public in a timely manner so people can take action to save lives and minimize damage to property. Simply stated, it’s about getting the right information to the right people at the right time, so they can make the right decisions.

Usually, the person acting as the PIO is a full-time PIO, not located within the public works agency, whose role in an incident has been predetermined in emergency plans and standard operating procedures. Public works needs to work closely with the PIO to ensure that accurate and reliable public works information is distributed.

Because of the nature of the services public works provides, many public works agencies have their own full-time PIO to handle communication regarding such issues as power outages.

Many disasters or incidents may result in round-the-clock operations. It is therefore recommended that a core group of at least three trained PIOs be created, to maintain the availability of a PIO at all times.

It is common for PIOs from different jurisdictions and agencies to interact on a regular basis to share information and ideas. However, when an event occurs that prompts activation of the EOC, these working relationships become formalized and structured, through activation of a Joint Information System (JIS).

Just as the JIS helps ensure consistency through the use of a defined process, establishing a JIC allows PIOs to coordinate the release of accurate and timely information, which, in turn, ensures consistency of release.

The wrong spokesperson, or a poorly prepared spokesperson, may do more harm than good. The result may be the wrong information released, a poor relationship with the media, and/or a lack of public confidence. While there may be one primary person assigned this responsibility, in the event of a press conference it is recommended that those agencies intimately involved with the event be represented – especially if question and answer is planned.

Some examples of agencies or individuals represented at a press conference may include public safety, public works, utilities, transportation, community service, emergency services, the Incident Commander, the PIO, and elected officials. In cases where multiple jurisdictions are involved, efforts should be made to include all jurisdictions in the press conference.

Decision-makers must be present in the JIC to expedite the information management process and resolve issues quickly and accurately.

Communication is a vital component of emergency management before, during, and after a disaster. Establishing e-communication channels and a relationship with the media prior to an event or incident will provide for effective public information release during and after an event.

Gary Eaton

I think it’s difficult to find a time when communication doesn’t make a difference in an emergency response. We had several large fires out here in 2003 and 2007. During that time, we had to respond to a sister city that had to be evacuated fully, and as part of that response, we were able to use our mutual aid agreements that we had put into place earlier, and we were able to draw on about 80 personnel from our various water districts to show up at that city and, to begin restoration of uh, of water service for the people that were there. Because of having the communication in place and the pre- developed mutual aid agreements, we were able to get these 80 people in, under 24 hours, dispatched and working, and it worked out really well. We were able to restore service in about another 24 hours, and it sped the process up dramatically and allowed people then to get back into their homes. So I think communication is critical and really can’t be overstressed.

Christine Walsh

In 2008, our city, along with most of the State of Wisconsin had a blizzard, and it was a horrific blizzard - it was a declaration. And we were busy working and we had things down to a science in our city, but all of a sudden trucks came off the highway and started filling every street and what we didn’t know, and the communication that was lacking was I-90, which goes straight through our city, was closed down, with over 2000 cars. And these 2000 cars sat out there for over 24 hours without help.

There was a huge investigation, and quite frankly, it was a 100% communication error. No one was talking to anyone. You know, we were seeing the cars pulling off, but we weren’t calling and saying, “What’s going on? Why are all the cars pulling off?” And the same with state patrol and the guys that were plowing on the highway, weren’t saying “Hey, there’s 2000 cars sitting out here stranded.”

And in that area, I thought public works should have taken the lead because they had, they had plow drivers out on the highway that were seeing what was happening, but they didn’t tell their supervisors. There was no communication that took place. We were very blessed not to have people die in that storm that were sitting there.

Gregg Varner

One of the key aspects of recovery is managing and removing debris, and there’s a fair chance that whatever you have is not always going to go to the same place. You may take vegetative waste to one place to burn it, and you may take construction materials to another, to bury it. So getting that message out to the public is very, very important, and when we recovered from Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina in 1989 we went to the news media every single day, with that kind of announcement, telling the public how to separate their debris, so that our process of collection and disposal went so much smoother. It was great – it really worked well.

As you’ve learned, developing successful public information programs can help to mitigate the effects of disaster, by reducing risk and improving coordinated response and recovery efforts. Effective communication is also a necessary component of mitigation actions.

In this lesson, you’ve learned about the importance of establishing an effective public works program and how public works is involved in communication throughout all phases of emergency management.

Because all disasters, events, and communities are different, communication needs will vary. Those directly involved in the dissemination of public information should seek additional training on this topic.

The public works agency should have a written emergency operations plan (EOP). The development of the plan should be done by a team with input from stakeholders who have a functional relationship with public works. The process of developing the plan is as important as having the plan on the shelf. The research involved is invaluable, as are the relationships that are formed during the creation of the document.

There are real obstacles to effective planning. In some cases, planners try to cover every possible situation that may arise, making the plan very lengthy. The lengthy plans are never read and too difficult to work from in a major incident, creating frustration and confusion.

The more successful plans are those that “keep it simple,” and the best way to do that is with the use of checklists. Simple but inclusive checklists make plans easy to read, easy to follow and easy to implement.

There is a host of independent study courses available through FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) that will help you with effective planning.

Select the link provided to learn about recommended independent study courses available from FEMA EMI.

The planning activity, if done well, will prepare public works professionals to respond in a professional manner and take action rather than merely reacting. Response activity is best described as those actions taken immediately following an event or incident to save lives, meet the service needs of the community, reduce the loss of personal or public property and lessen the impact to infrastructure and the environment. A major incident will require a unified response from all local or tribal agencies, including public works, as well as state and federal resources.

The initial response on the part of public works includes a number of key issues. First and foremost is to assist public safety with all life safety activity. The public works agency assists with search and rescue operations, primarily by supplying equipment. Search and rescue often involves going into locations where buildings or other structures have collapsed, and some public works equipment such as loaders, backhoes, track hoes, or cranes provide assistance with these activities.

During initial response, public works will also be called upon to provide technical expertise. For example, a structural engineer may be needed to evaluate a partially collapsed building for safe entry. Public works agencies generally maintain records of the various utilities and know how they may be affected by a disaster, all of which is useful information for all responders.

Training for initial response activities is very important. Many public works equipment operators are not subjected to disaster conditions on a regular basis, and they need to be prepared to deal with this environment. For example, they may be confronted with death, dismemberment, and severe injuries. Training is also needed to ensure the effective use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as respiratory and hearing protection.

When lifelines are disrupted, such as when potable water is unavailable or debris blocks access to damaged areas, all agencies’ response efforts are affected. The stabilization of public works infrastructure is the primary plan component for the public works response effort. Other public works response priorities include sanitation services, facility repair, assistance with shelters, and clearing streets.

Debris management includes initial street clearance, removal, and disposal. In most cases, debris management is assigned to public works, but in some cases, the engineering function may be assigned this task.

The mission of hazard mitigation is to reduce the potential impact of future disasters to life and property in the local community. Simply stated, the idea is to make your community more disaster-resistant. Mitigation planning is as essential as all other phases of emergency management, perhaps more so, because it has the potential to reduce the need for the other mission areas.

Furthermore, under the Stafford Act, local and tribal governments are required to have hazard mitigation plans in order to receive certain federal assistance and funding.

A local or tribal mitigation planning team is a vital component for effective mitigation planning. The participants are much the same as the other teams and are community-specific. Development of local or tribal policy and coordination of effort are the primary responsibilities, complemented by public information and community support. The mitigation planning process is continual and overlaps other mission areas of emergency management – especially during and after an event, as mitigation opportunities are more visible.

FEMA has published a series of how-to guides for state and local mitigation planning. You may click the document icon next to each title to download the guide. The document size is noted next to its title. Please be aware that downloading larger documents may take several minutes depending on your connection speed.

FEMA 386-1 (2 MB) Getting Started: Building Support For Mitigation Planning (https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1521-20490-3966/howto1.pdf)

FEMA 386-2 (17 MB) Understanding Your Risks: Identifying Hazards And Estimating Losses (https://mitigation.eeri.org/wp-content/uploads/FEMA_386_2.pdf)

FEMA 386-3 (3 MB) Developing The Mitigation Plan: Identifying Mitigation Actions And Implementing Strategies (https://mitigation.eeri.org/wp-content/uploads/FEMA_386_3.pdf)

FEMA 386-4 (2 MB) Bringing the Plan to Life: Implementing the Hazard Mitigation Plan (https://mitigation.eeri.org/wp-content/uploads/FEMA_386_4.pdf)

FEMA 386-5 (203 KB) Using Benefit-Cost Review in Mitigation Planning (https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=486846)

FEMA 386-6 (5 MB) Integrating Historic Property and Cultural Resource Considerations into Hazard Mitigation Planning (https://mitigation.eeri.org/wp-content/uploads/FEMA_386_6.pdf)

FEMA 386-7 (1.5 MB) Integrating Manmade Hazards Into Mitigation Planning (https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1524-20490-3869/howto7.pdf)

FEMA 386-8 (215 KB) Multi-Jurisdictional Mitigation Planning (https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1523-20490-0509/howto8_092006.pdf)

FEMA 386-9 (13.5 MB) Using the Hazard Mitigation Plan to Prepare Successful Mitigation Projects (https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=28466)

FEMA 433 (13 MB) Using HAZUS-MH for Risk Assessment (https://www.fema.gov/pdf/plan/prevent/hazus/fema433.pdf)

After a disaster or other emergency, stakeholders should gather together in a structured but open environment for a debriefing session with the purpose of identifying improvements in policies, procedures, and actions. During this after-action review, the team will discuss all event-related activity in order to improve planning, mitigation, response, and recovery measures based on lessons learned from the event.

The value of the debriefing session is almost limitless. It will allow all stakeholders to identify strengths and areas for improvement through a review of the effectiveness of preparedness and planning efforts for such an event. Corrective actions and lessons learned will be identified to create opportunities for improvement. In no event, in no incident, and in no community will there ever be incident activity without opportunity for improvement.

Select the link provided to learn more about event-related activities that should be discussed in the after-action review meeting.

For the after-action review process to be successful, it must be supported by all levels of management, particularly at the top. City, county, and tribal administrators and managers, department directors, and elected officials must support the process and set the tone for all subordinate participants.

Select the link provided to learn why it is important not to place blame.

You may want to include only the agencies directly involved in the event in debriefing sessions. In this way, participants can feel free to openly discuss the strengths of the response and recovery efforts, as well as areas for improvement. Although other agencies may also benefit from the lessons learned from the event, you must ensure that the group is not too large to function smoothly.

As you’ve learned, the public works agency is involved in each of the five mission areas of prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. Its role is particularly important during the recovery process, during which debris management and restoration of services occur, and the department is likely to incur more reimbursable expenses than any other discipline.

For this reason, it is almost certain that the department will need to be involved in the after-action review for every event.

Gary Eaton

We conduct after-action reviews, and they are absolutely critical for memorializing the decisions that were made, and, the most critical thing is, it helps the next people that have to respond to the emergency. It helps them that they can see why we made certain decisions that we made and the things that we learned. And it’s just as important to document, certainly, the good things that occurred as well as the bad.

We make sure that everybody participates because oftentimes, if it’s just management or supervisors that participate, they have one view of the incident, but we try and bring everybody in and debrief and make sure that we get the comments because some of the best lessons learned come from the individuals who were the “boots on the ground” during the incident, and they can tell you what worked and didn’t. And I think the big thing is following up with those things that you do learn as a result of the after-action review, to make sure that those gems that you learned during the emergency get brought back into and memorialized into your emergency response plan and procedures so that you don’t have to learn them the hard way the second time.

Christine Walsh

In fact, today, I just went through an after-action review on a gas main that was hit in our town about three weeks ago. And we had the private utilities come in, police, fire, and public works and we found out what went really well and how we can improve upon that type of incident in the future and we all came away with some goodies that we want to do to improve and then we’ll be getting back together with those improvements.

No matter how good you are, no matter how good your plan is, and in reality, even how much you’ve trained and practiced, if you’re hit with a major event, I can almost guarantee you that you’re going to do some things right and some things really well, but you’re going to make some mistakes. It’s just – it’s just a fact. So the idea of looking at all that after an event is how you learn, how you modify your plan, and how you better prepare for the next time, because there will be a next time.

And then, secondary to that, if you do after-action review and write after-action reports, those kinds of things can be shared with other people, and other people in other communities can also learn from what you’ve done, and that’s great.

In this lesson, you’ve learned that after-action reviews are an essential part of the emergency management continuum, and public works professionals are vital members of the after-action review team.