SEMS/NIMS
 Every California school campus is required to have an Emergency Response Plan. The development of the emergency response plan should NOT be completed in a vacuum. Each school site is NOT independent from the district, or the city in which it is located. Each school emergency plan should be consistent with the district plan as well as the city plan. Each plan should be consistent with the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS), PDF - 780 KB and National Incident Management System (NIMS). It is essential that all staff receive SEMS/NIMS training. During emergencies, all Cities as well as the State will operate under SEMS/NIMS. School districts and campuses by having compatible plans and training will be able to operate within the system and not independently of the system. This will allow cities and the state to better identify and meet the needs of each school site during a disaster.
The Emergency Management System (SEMS/NIMS) allows the school administrator to better manage his/her resources during an emergency incident. The system is modular and the Incident Commander (I/C) can, depending on the incident size and complexity, keep all of the tasks or hand off as many as necessary. The system can be visualized as if the I/C is wearing several hats (responsibilities) at the same time during the beginning of the incident. As the incident grows, he is able to hand off each hat (responsibility) as needed.
In many cases, school personnel may be required to operate under a Unified Command with local emergency responders. Under a unified command, school personnel may be assigned to work hand in hand with city and/or state emergency personnel to assist in the mitigation of an incident.
SEMS has been established to provide an effective response to multi-agency and multi-jurisdiction emergencies in California. By standardizing key elements of the emergency management system, SEMS is intended to:
- facilitate the flow of information within and between levels of the system,
- facilitate coordination among all responding agencies.
Use of SEMS will improve the mobilization, deployment, utilization, tracking, and demobilization of needed mutual aid resources. Use of SEMS will reduce the incidence of poor coordination and communications, and reduce resource ordering duplication on multi-agency and multi-jurisdiction responses.
SEMS is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the varied disasters that occur in California and to the needs of all emergency responders.
Local governments include cities, counties, and special districts such as school districts. Local governments manage and coordinate the overall emergency response and recovery activities within their jurisdiction. Local governments are required to use SEMS when their emergency operations center is activated or a local emergency is declared or proclaimed in order to be eligible for state funding of response-related personnel costs.
There are five basic functions of SEMS:
- Management: Responsible for overall policy and coordination
- Planning/Intelligence: Responsible for collecting, evaluating, and disseminating information; developing the action plan in coordination with other functions; and maintaining documentation
- Operations: Responsible for coordinating all operations (carrying on the mission of the organization)
- Logistics: Responsible for providing facilities, services, personnel, equipment and materials
- Finance/Administration: Responsible for financial activities and administrative aspects not assigned to other functions
These five components are the basic structure for any emergency response. Use them for your emergency response operations and train staff in the terminology. Staff then can work interchangeably at other schools and even other districts. In addition, when schools need to exchange information with the school district, city, county or state emergency operations centers, they will know, for example, that the Logistics Section has information on resources ordered and deployed, and that the Planning Section has information on anticipated activities for the next action period.
Some emergency incidents will require outside resources be brought in to evaluate facilities and provide other assistance to school personnel. The Division of the State Architect (DSA) has provided structural engineers immediately after disasters such as earthquakes to evaluate school facilities to help school districts reoccupy buildings as soon as possible. DSA has over 100 professional staff registered with the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) as Safety Assessment Program Disaster Services Workers who can perform safety assessments of schools. The flow chart below depicts the operational relationships needed to provide these resources in accordance with SEMS.
If a school district requires assistance in evaluating their facilities after a disaster, the school district would request assistance from their local county Emergency Operations Center (EOC). If the local EOC could not supply the requested resources, the request would be passed on to the OES Regional Emergency Operations Center. If the resources were not available there, the request would be passed to the OES State Operations Center. Requests for school facility evaluations would be sent to California's Department of General Services (DGS), the department where DSA is located. DGS would contact DSA and DSA would send the required personnel to the school district. This procedure is required by SEMS so there is adequate coordination and communication and so resources are sent to the areas where they are most needed.
Additional Resources
Additional information regarding SEMS can be found at the website for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services at www.oes.ca.gov. In addition, Los Angeles Unified School District has information on their website, http://www.lausd-oehs.org, regarding safe school plans, which include information on emergency preparedness and emergency procedures.
- Dan Levernier
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