Emergency Planning: Roles of Planner, Stages, and Planning Types

This report provides a detailed overview of emergency planning, beginning with a definition of emergency planning as the assessment of risks and implementation of mitigation measures. It outlines the core roles of an emergency planner, including resource management, coordinating emergency management activities, and stakeholder communication. The report then describes the five stages of the preparedness cycle: planning, organizing/equipping, training, exercising, and evaluating/improving, detailing the emergency planner's role in each stage. Finally, it distinguishes between strategic, operational, and tactical emergency planning, highlighting the planner's responsibilities at each level. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of comprehensive emergency planning and stakeholder coordination for effective disaster management.

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Emergency Planning
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Introduction
Before looking deep into the roles of an emergency planner, stages of preparedness cycle,
roles of an emergency planner in ensuring that the stages are going according to plan, it is key to
first understand what emergency planning means. Alexander (2015) stated that emergency
planning involves assessment of risks, creation of plans for the identified risks and finally
implementing risk mitigation measures to prepare the society for unforeseen hazard or incident.
The individual who is responsible for the planning of emergency is called and emergency
planner.
Roles of emergency planner
An emergency planner has the following core roles: first and foremost the emergency
planner is in charge of resource management i.e. before the incident occurring, during the
occurrence of emergency and after the hazard has occurred. This is done and achieved through
carrying out inventory of both personnel and available resources which includes both private and
public resources for mitigating an emergency when it occurs. Also this role involves identifying
any resource deficiency and coordinating with other stakeholders on measures to solve any
deficiency that may be experienced. It is suggested that in addition to the deficiency
identification, the planner is responsible for creating public awareness and ensuring that
education programs are carried out to help the public understand what is supposed to be done
when an emergency occurs (Jerolleman & Kiefer, 2015).
The second role of an emergency planner is carrying out activities that relate to the core
parts of emergency management. The planner achieves this by taking charge of the planning
process and working harmoniously with firms and government agencies to ensure that all that

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has been planned goes according to the plan. Also, identification and analysis of potential effects
of risks that threaten the jurisdiction fall under this role. In addition to this, the emergency
planner conducts threats and ensure that risks are well assessed. The emergency planner ensures
that all emergency related authorities’ reviews are well coordinated to ensure the success of this
role.
The third role of an emergency planner is coordinating with all stakeholders in the
process of the emergency management process. This is done to ensure that they are well all
informed about potential threats that may affect the society, making sure that a good system is
put in place to alert both officials and the general public when an emergency occurs, preventing
and mitigating emergencies when they occur. The planner also uses all-hazards approach in
planning for emergencies which include establishment and maintenance of professional advisors
and also damage assessors. Coordination with stakeholders is key to ensure that all stakeholders
effectively operate when an emergency situation occurs and to ensure that all partners involved
conduct recovery operations after the occurrence of a disaster (Lock et al., 2018). Other roles of
emergency planner include: acting as a communication link between organization headquarters
and the facility that has been affected, ensuring that all necessary equipment are available on the
site by making orders and arranging the delivery of the equipment from contractors, ensuring
that the affected community is informed adequately about the incident and the required
responses.
Stages of preparedness cycle
This cycle comprises of five major stages. These stages are planning,
organizing/equipping, training, exercising and lastly evaluating and improving. Planning

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involves addressing any kind of threat that may affect the society negatively. This includes:
preventing, protecting, responding, recovering and mitigating disasters when they take place.
Nielson (2017) stated that for this stage of preparedness cycle to succeed, the emergency planner
participates fully in the planning process and work harmoniously with other stakeholders
involved in the planning process to ensure its success. The second stage of the emergency
preparedness cycle is organizing. Organizing involves coordination of task objectives and
activities to the available resources to ensure emergency planning objectives are accomplished
(Penadés et al., 2017). For this stage to succeed, the emergency planner must determine what is
required to achieve the emergency plan objectives, grouping the necessary task into manageable
units, assigning the work to individuals and ensuring that those individuals are involved in
decision-making process.
The third stage of this cycle is training. Training involves performing activities that
modify the skills, attitudes, and behavior of people towards disasters or hazards. For this stage to
succeed, the planner must follow all the steps involved in the training process to the letter for it
to work effectively. This step involves assessment of needs, setting attainable objectives,
designing, implementing and lastly evaluation. Meera (2014) found that in need assessment, the
planner should understand why he or she needs to train the community about hazards or
disasters. The need can be identified through the analysis of present and future occurrences.
After that, attainable objectives are set. What follows is the designing of the training programme
then implementation and lastly evaluating the implemented training programme.
The fourth stage of emergency preparedness cycle is exercising. This involves the
implementation of the emergency management policy which will cater effectively to any

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emergency that may occur. Gleeson (2015) found that for the effective success of this stage, the
planner must start the implementation process early, be committed to the implementation
process, ensure that all costs incurred are fully paid and lastly establish a good relationship with
other stakeholders. The last stage of the emergency preparedness cycle is evaluation and
improving. This stage involves examining a program. Evaluation is important as it demonstrates
the success or progress of the implemented program. For it to succeed, the planner ensures that
it's well planned, implemented, completed and lastly it should be well reported.
Distinction between strategic, operational and tactical emergency planning
Strategic planning outlines how authority wants to meet its long-term emergency
managements. Strategic plans are operated by senior officials’ policy who establishes planning
priorities. FEMA (2010) found that the role of an emergency planner in this level of planning is
providing required information to the authority for effective emergency planning. The
operational plan, on the other hand, provides a full description of responsibilities and roles of
each stakeholder, the tasks that should be operated on to ensure achievement of emergency
planning objectives, integration and the required actions of the government during emergency
periods. In this level of emergency planning, the planner coordinates all required resources with
activities. Tactical planning stresses on all requirements that performs a major role in an
emergency situation. The role of the planner in tactical planning involves managing of all
resources that directly take part in emergency response.

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References
Alexander, D. (2015). Towards the development of a standard in emergency planning. Disaster
Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 14(2), 158-175.
FEMA. (2010, November). comprehensive preparedness guide and maintaining emergency operations
plans. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/divisions/npd/CPG_101_V2.pdf
Gleeson, P. (2015, August 3). The Implementation Process of Strategic Plans. Retrieved from
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/implementation-process-strategic-plans-4514.html
Jerolleman, A., & Kiefer, J. J. (2015). The Private Sector's Role in Disasters: Leveraging the
Private Sector in Emergency Management. CRC Press.
Lock, M. B., Fansler, C., & Webb, M. (2018). Emergency Planning (R) Evolution: Making a
Comprehensive Emergency Plan for the Present and the Future. In Library Science and
Administration: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1332-1358). IGI Global.
Meera. (2014). Evaluation: What is it and why do it? | Meera. Retrieved from
http://meera.snre.umich.edu/evaluation-what-it-and-why-do-it
Nielson, M. H. (2017). When disaster strikes, will you be ready?. Nursing2018, 47(12), 52-56.

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Penadés, M. C., Núñez, A. G., & Canós, J. H. (2017). From planning to resilience: The role (and value)
of the emergency plan. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 121, 17-30.