Assessing Capabilities and Risks

Often clients come to us without an accurate sense of their capabilities or vulnerabilities. In emergency management, being unaware can be dangerous or life-threatening.

It is important to understand an organization’s capabilities related to emergency management; this is the baseline for solid planning. Hagerty’s extensive experience in devising and conducting thorough capabilities assessments assists a juridsiction or business to determine their current risks in the event of disaster. We approach each project with the discipline and rigor of management consultants trained to gather and interpret qualitative and quantitative information.

Planning

Hagerty is often called upon to help define and set national policy recommendations and standards for all stakeholders to follow. Our leaders are adept at developing both hazard specific and multi-hazard plans for all phases of an emergency, from mitigation to response, and beyond into recovery and resilience. Engaging critical stakeholders with innovative solutions related to planning, technology, and social media allows our team to develop unique plans, specific guidance for activating these plans, and a strategy for the client’s path forward.

Executive Decision-Making

The optimal time to make good, strategic decisions is usually not in the midst of a crisis, but crises demand the attention of executives able to quickly make the necessary decisions. To better prepare for these times, Hagerty works with executives to develop tactical guidelines for their specific operations and organizations.

Training and Exercising

Training and exercising are foundational activities; they ensure emergency plans are workable, complete, and understood by those tasked with implementing them. It is essential to train and exercise the people and organizations to be called upon during an emergency. Skills need to be refreshed, refined, and learned; roles need to be clearly assigned and embraced. Exercising empowers people to make decisions and mistakes in a safe environment, and to learn from the experience. All of our exercises are HSEEP-compliant and many Hagerty professionals are HSEEP-certified.

Next Steps

At the conclusion of both planning and training efforts, Hagerty provides strategic guidance for effective future planning and resource procurement. Often, identified next steps are prioritized in terms of need, and range from low/no-cost solutions to those requiring community funding. Where possible, Hagerty provides insight about how to continue to prepare for disasters, as well as how to leverage financial assistance to promote such preparedness.