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Pre-Planning Guidance: The Right Questions to Ask Here are some important questions to ask to ensure that the agency is in a state of readiness and continually resilient for when the next emergency occurs. Planning/Preparedness ⢠What is my systemâs current level of security and preparedness? ⢠How many real-time disasters has the agency responded to in the last 2 years? ⢠Does the agency have plans in place to respond to various types of emergencies? ⢠Are state emergency response plans current and adequate? ⢠Are the response programs centralized or decentralized? ⢠What additional threats should we consider for our operations? ⢠How are the stateâs functions and emergency management agencies coordinated? ⢠What are the roles and authority of the governorâs immediate staff? ⢠How is the stateâs fusion center (see definition in Appendix D) organized? ⢠Are critical information technology (IT) systems included in the COOP? Communications/Coordination ⢠What agency is responsible for your stateâs communications system, and do they have a backup plan? ⢠Do all of your agencyâs responders know who the go-to person is in case of an incident? ⢠Do key staff have the contact numbers of other key staff (e.g., are staff wallet cards distributed)? ⢠Does the contact list contain cellular numbers, home personnel cellular numbers, and personnel e-mail addresses for backup contact? ⢠Are the stateâs first responder communications sufficiently interoperable? ⢠What technical means of communication are available? ⢠How can the agency cooperate more effectively with law enforcement and other emergency responders? ⢠Ask to meet with your counterparts at state level from the National Guard, state police, and governorâs office of emergency preparedness. Ask what you can do to help them. What barriers do they have within your agency? ⢠Visit communications/operations centers at the district or local level. What do they expect of you? Who will notify you and provide regular updates during an event? ⢠Do staff know whom to notify at the local FHWA office when an incident occurs? ⢠Have staff contacted bordering states to obtain contact information from their counterparts? ⢠Have staff communicated with local public works agencies (larger counties/cities) to see if they have a response plan? If they have such a plan, does it work with yours? 12
Training/Exercises ⢠Does the agency practice and/or train for emergencies? ⢠When were the last exercises/drills conducted? ⢠Who is in charge of the exercises? ⢠What other agencies participated? Were any key agencies not present? ⢠For the drills/exercises in which your agency has taken part, was the role realistic to operations? Is there a need to have someone involved in the planning to make them more realistic? Feedback/Corrective Actions ⢠Has the agency completed after-action reviews of real-time incidents and exercises/drills? ⢠What went well, and what are the major areas needing improvement? ⢠What steps can be taken to identify and prioritize actions for mitigating and managing risks? ⢠Are staff aware of the ongoing efforts of AASHTO and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) as related to security/emergency response? 13
