BROOKE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Forward……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Record of Changes………………………………………………………………………………..
Continuity of Operations Plan……………………………………………………………………
Appendix 1: Telephone Notification Tree
Appendix 2: Staff Listing
Appendix 3: Continuity of Operations Flow Charts
Appendix 4: Internet Resources
Appendix 5: Forms
Message Form
Status Report Form
Resource Request Form
Appendix 6: Minimum Supplies Necessary for Relocated Operations
Appendix 7: Glossary
Appendix 8: Records
FORWARD
Emergency situations come in all shapes and sizes. As such, it is important to prepare for the major, “worst case scenario” events; however, it is equally important to address those emergencies with less severity but a higher frequency rate. According to some sources, 90% of emergencies are considered “quiet catastrophes”. These relatively minor emergencies can wreak havoc on an agency’s ability to continue operations.
As a public service agency, the Brooke County Health Department must realize that the public has generally been unwilling to overlook lapses in services, even in the wake of disasters. The public expects good “customer service” from governmental agencies as it does from any business. Further, as a public health agency, the health department is involved in a variety of emergency functions to ensure the safety of the public and emergency response resources that must be provided while simultaneously maintaining routine services.
Without pre-planning, it is difficult for an organization to fulfill its mission during a crisis of any magnitude. Continuity of Operations (COOP) planning is an effort to ensure the stability of essential functions during a wide range of potential emergencies and events. Today’s changing threat environment and many of the recent disasters throughout the country underscore the need for COOP capabilities and plans.
This document presents guidelines for the Brooke County Health Department to ensure the structured prioritization of services and the continued provision of high-priority services. The plan relies on a “common sense” approach to not only fulfilling routine and emergency responsibilities but also to ensuring the safety of its employees. This plan recognizes the existence of resource shortfalls and offers a variety of options for overcoming them.
i
RECORD OF CHANGES
In order for any plan to remain viable and effective, frequent revisions and updates are needed. This document serves as a record of the changes made to the Brooke County Health Department Continuity of Operations Plan. All significant revisions should be logged in this section (with the exception of the correction of typographical and other such errors and the updating/addition of personnel names and contact information).
Date / Description of the Change / InitialsFebruary – August 2008 / · Complete plan development
· Regular meetings between BCHD and consultant to determine priorities, capabilities, agency interdependencies, etc.
· Initial plan adoption and implementation / BCHD, JHC
June 2015 / Reviewed plan and updated personnel / MSB, BCHD
ii
BROOKE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN
I. PURPOSE
These guidelines for business continuity describe the actions to be taken by employees of the Brooke County Health Department during quick onset and/or prolonged emergency situations to maintain, to the extent possible, the services provided by the health department.
Discussions of Major COOP ConceptsThe following is not a comprehensive list of the COOP concepts discussed in this plan. It is, however, the major concepts. This list serves as a quick reference guide for the user of the plan.
· Prioritization of Services – III.A.2.
· Service Suspension and Consolidation – III.A.2.c. and d.
· Plan Activation Levels – III.C.2.
· Relocation – III.C.3.
· Work from Home – III.C.4.
· Lines of Succession for Key Personnel – III.D.
· Records Protection – III.E.
· Recovery – III.F.
II. SITUATION AND ASSUMPTIONS
A. Situation
1. The Brooke County Health Department provides services in three (3) broad service areas: nursing, environmental health, and health education.
a. Environmental Health Services
i. Public Health Inspections and educational information
ii. Disease Prevention and Control
b. Nursing Division
i. Communicable Disease Prevention and Surveillance
ii. Immunizations and Health Promotion
c. Community Health Promotion
i. Provide information to the public
ii. Encourage health promotion
2. Normal health department operations are from the courthouse located in Wellsburg, WV.
3. Incident Command System (ICS) job descriptions with checklists have been developed and are available during an emergency. Generalized emergency responsibilities are listed in the Brooke County Emergency Operations Plan. Other, specialized plans include the following:
a. All Hazards Response Plan
b. CERC Plan (Crisis Emergency Response Communication)
c. Environmental Response Plan
d. Strategic National Stockpile
e. Strategic National Stockpile Site Plan
f. Epidemiological Response Plan
4. The following hazards may interrupt the operations of the Brooke County Health Department.
a. Armed or unruly citizen
b. Biological concerns (flu, etc.)
c. Blizzard or ice storm
d. Bomb threat
e. Fire
f. Extreme temperatures
g. Flood (although the health department office on the second floor does not flood, the lower floors are affected, causing accessibility problems at the courthouse)
h. Hazardous material release
i. Power outage
j. Utility failure (including HVAC failure)
5. The continuity of health department operations is necessary to ensure a maintenance of services for the citizens of Brooke County as well as an ability to maintain a capability (albeit potentially minimal) to respond to emergencies. Continuity of operations planning is also important to ensure that the resources of the health department can be re-distributed internally to handle “surge” type operations (and minimally maintain routine operations) should mass prophylaxis or other emergency response be necessary.
6. The Internet (which is provided by a general line into the courthouse) is often prone to disruption; due to the amount of resources located online and reporting done online, the internet is essential to the efficient operations of the health department. Should the internet go down, county representatives coordinate with the state to restore service.
7. Electric service is also sporadically interrupted. A generator is available for backup power; however, it is only suitable for full operations if the interruption is projected to last less than a single working day. If the outage is projected to be of longer duration, the generator should be relied upon only for maintenance of vaccines (refrigeration), emergency lighting, computer servers, etc.
B. Assumptions
1. Situations will occur that are beyond the planned scope of this procedure.
2. The health department may be requested to send a representative to the Brooke County Emergency Operations Center to provide expertise regarding the public health elements of a response. The Brooke County Health Department is committed to sending a representative; however, the actual individual sent is based on the incident itself, personnel availability, etc.
a. The health department has appropriate staff available to cover the regular responsibilities of an individual who reports to the county EOC via personnel cross-training, administrative delegations, etc.
b. It is also assumed that the health department will activate an internal command structure to manage its response to an emergency incident.
c. The health department representative in the county EOC serves as a liaison to this agency-specific “EOC” that is managing health department operations.
3. Adequate warning of an incident will be received by the health department administrator so as to implement this continuity of operations plan.
4. Health department personnel will understand their responsibilities as outlined in this plan, the Brooke County Emergency Operations Plan, and other specialized emergency plans maintained by the health department (see II.A.3. above).
5. A telephone notification tree maintained within the department is used to contact staff during an emergency (especially after hours).
6. Existing communications systems are adequate to facilitate the implementation of this plan.
7. Other health departments in the region can be relied upon for external support. Regional departments have the authority to refuse support based on conditions present within their own jurisdiction. Further, such support is likely to be diminished if all health departments in the region are affected by the same hazard.
8. Backup power capabilities will offset any short-term power failures as long as fuel is available. See II.A.7. above regarding generator capabilities.
9. On-going family planning will reduce employee shortages due to family matters. (The assumption is that employees will only have to miss work for major family situations.)
III. CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS
A. General
1. The Brooke County Health Department staff is comprised of fourteen (14) individuals.
a. The health officer and clinic doctor are both medical doctors and considered to be “staff members” of the Brooke County Health Department.
b. The doctors, however, do not hold full-time office positions with the department; they are on-call and utilized on an as-needed basis.
c. Tasks normally undertaken by the MDs are not considered in detail in this COOP document. It is assumed that if MDs are needed during times when this plan is activated, they will be called as normal. If they are unavailable, normal protocols for backups to the position are followed.
2. Delineation of High-Priority Services
a. During emergency situations, services provided by the Brooke County Health Department will be maintained to the extent possible. Some services may take precedence depending on the nature of the emergency. Examples of those services that may ascend to a higher priority include (but are not limited to):
i. Public health inspections
ii. Disease surveillance
iii. Disease prevention and control operations
iv. Immunizations
v. Provide emergency health information to the public
b. Prioritization of Services
i. Emergency response services HIGHEST PRIORITY
ii. Environmental health/nursing ↓
iii. Administration ↓
iv. Community health promotion LOWEST PRIORITY
c. Suspension of Services
i. Service suspension is a temporary measure.
ii. Service suspension can be implemented when the consolidation option (see III.A.2.d. below) will not allow for the adequate provision of services or when the safety of personnel is compromised if service provision is continued. Examples of emergency situations that may require suspension are as follows.
· Emergency response duties require the attention of all department personnel
· Employee illness (related to epidemic or pandemic)
· Significant damage to or destruction of the normal operating facility
· Short-term utility failure
· Hazardous material release (including both releases external to or within the office, such as a gas leak)
· Other in-county or regional resources are exhausted
iii. The decision to suspend services is made by the administrator. Items to consider include the following.
· Availability of in-house resources for consolidation (i.e. have minimum staff levels been reached? – see III.A.2.c.v. below)
· Potential for regional support
· Duration of action
· Location of the service on the health department’s priority listing for services
iv. If any service is suspended, the administrator must:
· Notify the board of health and the EOC.
· Ensure that the department’s public information officer disseminates appropriate information
Ø This information should include the estimated duration of the suspension, where clients can obtain more information, and how clients can handle emergencies until services can be restored.
Ø If the emergency situation is large scale and the emergency operations center and, subsequently, public information officer for Brooke County (through the county office of emergency management) has been activated, the health department public information officer should coordinate the release of public information with the county public information officer (to ensure a single, consistent message as well as to keep a record of all emergency activities).
v. Feasibility of Service Suspensions
· During situations for which this plan is activated, daily responsibilities may be suspended so as to ensure provision of the above high-priority services.
Ø Samples of daily responsibilities include general office management and grants administration.
Ø While not completely impractical, suspension of such tasks as payroll and accounts payable/receivable is considered a last resort, especially if the incident is expected to be of long duration (i.e. in excess of five [5] work days). The administrator should make every effort to see that these responsibilities are fulfilled (if necessary).
· Emergency response duties cannot be suspended. If the department is unable to fulfill emergency response responsibilities, notify the Brooke County Emergency Operations Center. Staff at the emergency operations center will attempt to locate resources from other county or regional agencies to ensure that those emergency responsibilities are fulfilled.
Ø During emergency situations, the health department organizes under an Incident Command System (ICS). One of the fundamental components of an ICS is that the incident is managed by an Incident Commander (IC) role that is filled at all times. As such, a line of succession exists through the structure of the ICS.
Ø Indicating an inability to fulfill emergency duties should only be done after all routine services have been temporarily suspended in an attempt to fulfill emergency responsibilities.
· Environmental Health Services
Ø Samples
- Public health inspections
- Disease prevention and control
- Public interface/liaison
Ø Routine environmental health services should not be suspended unless absolutely necessary (i.e. emergency response duties obligate all local staff and no regional/state resources are available to assist).
Ø Minimum staff levels required to maintain functional environmental health services include a registered sanitarian and support person.
· Nursing Services
Ø Samples
- Communicable disease prevention and surveillance
- Immunizations
- Health promotion