Creating a Church Emergency Response Plan

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Anglican Bishop: Why I Pack to Protect my Flock

By their design and purpose, houses of worship are “soft targets.”

Sadly, as recent church massacres have shown, one of the most unprepared, but most 

vulnerable to having emergencies, are such “soft target” churches and the churchgoers inside.

In hopes of changing that, here are some basic steps along with a description of the step you can take to prepare for and respond to such emergencies.

These concepts apply to all who want to be prepared IN ADVANCE to successfully deal with such current and future threats.

         

Step	Description
1.   Recognize the Need	In our case, it began when a toaster caught on fire in a faculty lunch room over two years ago. The response to the fire was less than stellar.  One law enforcement official who witnessed the chaos saw the need for an emergency response plan. He approached the pastor who supported the idea and he began to put together a volunteer safety and security committee. Given every day safety concerns (floods, fire, hurricanes, storms) the need has always existed. Now that murderers have assaulted church goers, the need is even greater.
2.    Organize a Volunteer Safety and Security Committee	Our volunteer safety and security committee include the pastor, business manager, choir leader, religious education teachers, law enforcement and fire-fighting professionals, information technology professionals, a nurse, retired military and a retired grocery store manager. Each brings a particular expertise and view to creating the emergency response plan. Your committee will reflect your unique needs. Like any volunteer committee, some people will leave and need to be replaced. Our primary Emergency Response Plan writer changed shifts at work and had to leave. Another member immediately stepped into that role.
3.    Identify the Threats	Conduct a survey of personal, fire, threats and security measures to see what you already have in place and what you need to implement.          Ask questions and discuss your unique vulnerabilities. Write down all you can think of and address them.           What if an active shooter approaches?          What if a bad storm suddenly turns worse and a tornado cloud forming a quarter mile outside the cation building where hundreds of young children, and dozens of religious education volunteers are? Fire -- what to do and how to do it Mentally unbalanced individual appearing Criminal entering the building -- obvious and not so obvious Weather emergency Natural disaster Others unique to your church or area Granted, you are more likely to face the demands of a snowstorm, flood, fire or an angry spouse than terrorists or an armed murderer, but your emergency response plan must be designed to handle the entire threat matrix.
4.    Writing the Emergency Response Plan	Every Safety and Security Committee member will contribute to the plan, but it is most practical to assign one or two members to author the plan. Using the survey as a starting point, organize chapters and subsections to cover each area (objectives, definitions, responsibilities, incident leaders, prevention, preparedness, notifications, types of emergencies, emergency contacts, etc.). Cover all details. For example, do you need to create signs to identify shelter areas? Signs to point to Evacuation Area A or B? What will go into the teachers’ evacuation bag (flashlight, roster of children, evacuation procedure steps card, etc.).
5.    Create an Emergency Contact List	List cell and email contact numbers for local police, fire, medical, tradesmen (tree removal firm, etc.). Also include all staff, teachers, maintenance, volunteers, and others. Cell Phone Broadcast Message – Create a list of the cell phone numbers of all parents. Use this list to do a broadcast email or text message if weather or an emergency warrants it.
6.    Purchase Any Necessary Supplies	Maybe you need a military-grade medical bag with tourniquets. In our case, we discovered that those in the gym could not communicate with the business manager in the office. So, we purchased radio’s so that everyone could communicate quickly in an emergency. After identifying the most useful items for the teachers’ emergency evacuation bags (flashlight, roster of children, evacuation procedure steps card, pen, whistle, etc.), you may want to buy those and fill up their bags. Again, purchase what is useful for your situation.
7.    Train Everyone in the Emergency Response Plan	The pastor, business manager, choir director, teachers, ushers and anyone else who responds to an emergency need to be trained. The more who are trained the higher the chance you will have a trained person to respond when needed. We created a PowerPoint we used with each group to give them the fundamentals and their responsibilities. After training them in class, we ran drills in the building to ensure they knew the plan and carried it out correctly.
8.    First Aid Training and Supplies	Basic first aid saves lives. Teach as many as possible first aid techniques         Teach Staff, Volunteers, and Coaches First Aid           Distribute Basic First Aid Kits – Place larger first aid kits in the large rooms (church, gym, cafeteria, and library) and smaller first aid kits in each classroom.           Defibrillators – Purchase several.
9.    Sign up for Emergency Apps	Multiple emergency cell phone apps are available. Prepare Me Carroll is my local emergency app. Find those for your area and share them. (https://tinyurl.com/y9yv3npr)
10.  Special Needs: Seniors, the Disabled and Young Children	Seniors, the disabled and young people all have special needs. This is especially in a power failure or other emergency. Using common sense, try to plan for and meet their needs, medical and otherwise. One tool is WaterBricks (https://www.waterbrick.org/)(www.waterbricks.com)  These bricks can be frozen. This is important to extending frozen food life during a power outage or to keep insulin cold for a diabetic, this can be a lifesaver in the first few hours and days of the loss of power. Young children also have special needs. Have a few stuffed animals, toys, books and games around to occupy them in an emergency.
11.  Test the Emergency Response Plan	Run exercises to test your plan. This is critical to get others who were not part of the committee, but who need to know it. Expect surprise and gaps in your plan that you can only identify in a test drill. For example, we discovered the three flood lights behind the gym over Evacuation Zone 1 were burned out and had to be replaced. We also found the fire alarms in the old part of the facility were not connected to the fire alarms in the new building. Also, the younger children quickly and efficiently walked to the evacuation zone. The teen-agers looked at their smart phones and did not find the evacuation zone. You will find your own surprises to fix with each drill.
12.  Evaluate the Drill	Create an evaluation form for the drill. Have committee members and others monitor the drill and fill out the evaluations. Incorporate any lessons l earned when you update the plan and the training.

These steps to create a church emergency response plan are useful, practical, and mostly free.

If you decide to create one, be aware that your pastor has many competing demands on his time. Safety and security is one of many. Some religious leaders see it as a necessity and support it. Others do not.

I pray that yours sees how important a volunteer Safety and Security Committee is to saving lives, reducing injury, and protecting property, creates one, and that committee creates, tests, and updates its emergency response plan to achieve that holy goal.