Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) offers accreditation to colleges and universities
LEXINGTON, Ky., Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) will now offer accreditation to emergency management programs of colleges and universities.
Currently, EMAP is the only accreditation process for emergency management programs. EMAP recognizes the ability to bring together personnel, resources and communications from a variety of organizations in preparation for identified hazards and disasters. The EMAP process evaluates, through peer review, emergency management programs on compliance with requirements in 64 standards and 104 individual elements including: planning, resource management, training, exercises, evaluations and corrective actions, and communications and warning.
"Achieving disaster resilience on a college and/or university campus is an exceedingly complex problem. It requires communication, coordination, and focused effort from the entire institute and those stakeholders who are actively involved within the campus. EMAP provides a solution with the method to measure the level of preparedness on any size campus," LTC Jerome Hatfield, Deputy Superintendent of Homeland Security for New Jersey State Police and Chair, the EMAP Commission.
An accreditation program based on an American National Standard, Emergency Management Standard by EMAP, will assist colleges and universities in the preparation to respond to crisis and disasters. As well as to assist in identifying opportunities to mitigate risk and prevent loss. The accreditation process also assists in establishing continuity of operations and recovery strategies for all types of events, crisis or disasters—regardless of size and complexity.
Ultimately, accreditation for colleges and universities provides a newfound credibility for those emergency management programs offering evidence of best efforts to comply with national standards. Directors of EMAP Accredited programs express the top three benefits to accreditation are shown in proving the efficiencies of the program; the long term survival of the program's capabilities; and the increase in promotion of the emergency management program to the various publics the program represents.
The accreditation process has proven successful within a cross section of campuses of all sizes and configurations through a pilot process of four institutions in four different regions of the United States. The purpose of the pilot was to ensure that accreditation is an attainable goal for any size college and university. Due to the high success of the pilot, EMAP will offer accreditation to all Institutions of Higher Education.
EMAP is a voluntary accreditation process for emergency management programs that coordinate preparedness and response activities for disasters based on national standards. The Emergency Management Standard by EMAP creates a structure for strategic planning for improvement coupled with methodical, verified assessment by experienced peers from other jurisdictions, which results in stronger capabilities and accountability. This forms the foundation of the nation's emergency preparedness system. To find out more about EMAP, please visit www.emaponline.org.
SOURCE Emergency Management Accreditation Program
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