BCEMP flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

All-hazards approach

A planning doctrine that addresses the full range of natural, technological, and human-caused hazards by building common capabilities rather than writing a separate plan for every individual hazard.

Comprehensive emergency management

The doctrine that organizes emergency management into four phases - mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery - and requires coordination among all levels of government and the private sector.

Stafford Act

The principal U.S. federal statute authorizing presidential emergency and major disaster declarations and the federal assistance programs that follow, including Public Assistance and Individual Assistance.

National Preparedness Goal

The document that defines five mission areas and thirty-two core capabilities used to set capability targets, measure preparedness, and guide national investment in prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Whole community

An approach that engages residents, businesses, nonprofits, faith groups, and all levels of government as active contributors to preparedness instead of treating the public as passive recipients of aid.

Emergency Support Functions

Coordinating structures in the National Response Framework that group federal departments and agencies by functional area, such as transportation or mass care, each with a designated coordinating agency.

THIRA

Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment: a four-step process that identifies threats and hazards, gives them context, sets capability targets, and applies results to planning and resource allocation.

Business impact analysis

An analysis that identifies time-sensitive functions and quantifies the operational and financial consequences of their disruption, producing recovery time objectives, dependencies, and restoration priorities.

Recovery time objective

The target time within which a function, system, or resource must be restored after a disruption so that unacceptable operational, financial, legal, or reputational consequences are avoided.

Maximum tolerable downtime

The longest period a function can remain unavailable before its loss causes unacceptable harm; it establishes the outer boundary that every recovery strategy and objective must satisfy.

Residual risk

The risk that remains after controls and mitigation measures are applied; it must be documented, formally accepted by an accountable authority, and reassessed on a defined cycle.

HSEEP

The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program: guiding principles and templates for designing, conducting, and evaluating exercises, including after-action reports and improvement plans.

Tabletop exercise

A discussion-based exercise in which participants talk through a scenario and apply plans and procedures in a low-stress setting to surface gaps without deploying personnel or equipment.

Functional exercise

An operations-based exercise that tests specific capabilities and command or coordination functions in a realistic simulated environment, typically a command post or emergency operations center, without full field deployment.

POETE

Planning, Organization, Equipment, Training, and Exercises: the five preparedness elements used to build, sustain, and evaluate a specific capability against a defined target.

Emergency operations plan

An all-hazards document that assigns roles and responsibilities and describes how a jurisdiction coordinates response and short-term recovery, supported by functional and hazard-specific annexes.

Span of control

The number of subordinates reporting to one supervisor; in the Incident Command System the working range is three to seven, with five generally considered optimal.

Unified command

An Incident Command System application in which agencies with jurisdictional or functional responsibility for the same incident jointly set objectives and tactics through a single command structure.

Operational period

The period for which a set of incident objectives and tactics is executed before a new plan is developed; it is commonly twelve or twenty-four hours and set by the Incident Commander.

Incident action plan

A written or oral plan stating objectives, tactics, organization, and resources for an operational period; required for planned events and multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency incidents.

Emergency operations center

A facility where representatives of multiple agencies coordinate to support on-scene command by maintaining situational awareness, setting priorities, and allocating resources across an incident or jurisdiction.

Recovery Support Functions

Six coordinating structures under the National Disaster Recovery Framework covering community planning and capacity building, economic recovery, health and social services, housing, infrastructure systems, and natural and cultural resources.

Continuity of operations

An effort ensuring an organization can keep performing its essential functions during and after a disruption, using alternate facilities, orders of succession, delegations of authority, and protection of essential records.

Devolution

The transfer of essential functions and decision-making authority from a primary organization or facility to a designated alternate when the primary is unable to operate.

Reconstitution

The process of restoring full organizational capability after continuity operations end, including validating essential functions, repairing facilities, and returning staff and records to normal locations.

Essential functions

Those functions that must continue or be restored most quickly because their loss would seriously harm an organization's ability to deliver services, meet legal obligations, or sustain public confidence.

EMAP

The Emergency Management Accreditation Program: a voluntary, standards-based, peer-reviewed accreditation that evaluates a jurisdiction's emergency management program and requires continuous improvement and periodic reaccreditation.

NFPA 1660

A consensus standard consolidating continuity, emergency, and crisis management requirements, specifying program elements such as risk assessment, planning, resource management, training, exercises, and program evaluation.

Conflict of interest

A circumstance in which an official's private interest could improperly influence a public decision; it must be disclosed and the official recused from related deliberations or awards.

Cost share

The portion of eligible project costs a grant recipient must contribute; Public Assistance is commonly a 75 percent federal share with a 25 percent non-federal share that may sometimes be met in kind.

Improvement plan

A component of the after-action process listing each corrective action needed to close an identified gap, along with the responsible organization, a due date, and a verification method.

Single audit threshold

The level of federal expenditures that triggers a single audit; set at $1,000,000 for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2024, previously $750,000.