Katrina Workshop: National Standards 'Critical' for Emergency Preparedness

August 16, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS

Standards are "absolutely critical" to the success of emergency preparedness efforts in the U.S., according to George W. Foresman, undersecretary for preparedness in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Foresman spoke at a recent workshop of the American National Standards Institute's Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP) that analyzed the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.

The July 2006 meeting brought together experts from the homeland security and emergency preparedness communities in Washington, D.C. to further national discussion of how standards, accreditation and certification programs can help support the implementation of key recommendations from major federal reports on the Katrina aftermath.

"The American national standard on emergency management and business continuity programs (NFPA 1600) is core to our efforts for measuring preparedness in both the public and private sectors," said Foresman. "It is used not only in our nationwide plan review, but also our day-to-day assessments."

Participants examined not only the crucial role for NFPA 1600, but also supporting standards and guidance. Additional focus was given to partnerships, operations and command, control and communications.

"The workshop confirmed and further underscored the importance of standards and specifically NFPA 1600 for emergency preparedness," said Joseph Broz, vice president of strategic initiatives at Midwest Research Institute.

"The standard appears sufficiently comprehensive to support the implementation of most of the Katrina report recommendations, with a few possible exceptions that the ANSI-HSSP will examine further."

Sharon Caudle, assistant director, homeland security and justice team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, served as co-leader of the workshop with Broz. She said to expect a final report from the workshop that will demonstrate the link between the elements of NFPA 1600 and the major recommendations for catastrophic event preparedness that have emerged as lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.

Nancy Victory, a partner of the law firm Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP, serves as chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) independent panel reviewing the impact of Hurricane Katrina on communications networks. She provided a comprehensive overview of the group's progress to date and its efforts to improve disaster preparedness, network reliability and communication among first-responders.

"The panel recommended that the FCC work with the appropriate public and private sector stakeholders to promptly develop national credentialing requirements and process guidelines for enabling communications infrastructure providers and their contracted workers with access to the affected area post-disaster," said Victory.

Representatives from the DHS National Incident Management System (NIMS) Integration Center, the DHS Hurricane Exercise Program and the American Red Cross, were among others that delivered presentations which helped further identify challenges and the work underway post-Katrina to better prepare our nation. A follow-up workshop meeting is planned for early fall.

For more information, go to www.ansi.org/hssp.

Source: American National Standards Institute (ANSI).