Continuity of Operations (COOP)

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timer Asked: Apr 6th, 2017

Question Description

COOP - Overview

Continuity of operations refers to the process of ensuring that agencies, governments, businesses, etc. are able to continue to function what struck by disaster or a catastrophic event. Such a scenario could be sudden onset or long term problem. Regardless, the disaster life cycle applies to the approach to handling such cataclysmic events. Traditionally, governments were limited in their abilities to assist the private sector in responding to or recovering from disasters short of supporting infrastructure and bringing back utilities. However, this is changing as we speak under the leadership of the current FEMA director, Craig Fugate. Partnerships between the public and private sector, bringing business leaders into the loop regarding community preparedness and educational opportunities are just some of the changes which have been embraced within community emergency management in the last five years. Business and the private sector have many best practices which could aid and improve local governments in the setting of a disaster and the two would do well to learn from each others’ strengths.

Reading Assignments

Attached Files:

610-Continuity of Operations planning.pdf (258.679 KB)

610-coop_brochure.pdf (389.489 KB)

610-NSPD-51_ National Continuity Policy.html (28.933 KB)

coop_multi_year_plan_guide.pdf (151.213 KB)

1600-16-PDF (1).pdf (3.003 MB)

COOP Assignment

Using the required reading for this week, identify the crucial components of a viable “FPC 65” COOP plan. Identify a ‘Critical Infrastructure / Key Resource’ organization for your COOP plan, provide a description of the CIKR function provided by the organization, and delineate the ‘essential functions and activities’ required to provide that function or service.

The FEMA document attached as coop-multi-year_plan is most helpful.

To clarify....

Review the FEMA Multi-Year Guide.

Choose an entity such as a business, community center, hospital etc.

Determine what critical infrastructures and key resources the entity provides and uses.

Describe briefly why each CI/KR is important.

Use Annex C of the FEMA plan as a guide to write a brief report of your entity's COOP.

12 to 16 pages

8 to 10 resources

I attached example for you and I want you to write similar to the example.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

1 Running head: CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN Continuity of Operations Plan Example CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 2 Continuity of Operations Plan for Wilmington Hospital 1.0 Executive Summary A continuity operations plan is developed for Wilmington Hospital located in Wilmington City, Delaware. The plan documents how the health facility will perform essential functions in the case of an emergency event lasting for up to 30 days. The COOP plan identifies the essential functions of the facility as well as supportive resources that may be affected in the case of an emergency (Clark and Biddinger, 2013). A COOP team to handle management of activation, relocation and reconstitution of key resources has also been developed as well as the flow of information during such emergencies. A concept of operations framework is also provided to guide the management team on how to conduct organizational functions during emergency scenarios. Upon recognition of the diversity of risks and hazards that may occur, a criterion to designate delegation of authority and ensure continuation of operations has also been developed to maintain functionality of essential functions within the healthcare facility. The management team of Wilmington Hospital upon approval from the department of health has also acquired permission from two neighboring health facilities to act as alternative facilities where key operations may be run from in case of emergency events. 2.0 Introduction The continuity of operations plan is an important element of strategic management that ensures that organizations are well prepared in case of disasters and other emergency events. The COOP plan contains resources, action-plans, guidelines and procedures on how to manage events that may disrupt normal operations. The focus of the COOP plan is usually the essential functions of an organization whose disruption may result to gross harm, damage or even death (Clark and Biddinger, 2013). An extensive risk and hazard analysis should be conducted to help organizations CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 3 project possible steps of concerns as well as the impact on essential functions. Development of such plans hence involve both internal and external organizational stakeholders including local area emergency response teams who are most likely to offer help in such times. The COOP is to be availed to all organizational personnel so that each member is aware of their responsibilities and roles in the case of emergency events (Virginia Department of Emergency Management, 2010). 3.0 Purpose The purpose of this healthcare Continuity of Operations Plan is to provide a framework upon which essential functions may be restored effectively in the case of an emergency or related incidence. This report provides the healthcare COOP program procedures which will cover the following types of disruptions within the facility: • Failure to access the healthcare facility • Failure to provide healthcare services as a result of system or equipment breakdown • Failure to provide healthcare services due to a reduced number of employees Procedures to counter the above disruptions within the specified recovery time are discussed as well as the actions necessary to run essential functions of the facility for about 30 days. The emergency department of the institution aims to ensure patient and employee safety as well as safeguard all resources owned or utilized by the hospital. The COOP is therefore a mitigation measure aimed at reducing the potential impacts and risks during unplanned events and disruptions (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2016). 4.0 Applicability and Scope The plan’s course of action is applicable to all personnel and processes that are related to essential functions. Any potential events or hazards that could cause disruption in the provision of services CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 4 or lower the performance of key functions within the facility are addressed. Only major events are covered in this plan hence temporary or short-term disruptions are ignored. This COOP plan is designed based on the guidelines provided by the City of Wilmington’s, Delaware, basic plan. Upon its verification by relevant authorities, the plan will be distributed to the management team of the healthcare facility and a training plan may be scheduled at the jurisdiction of the chief executive officer to enlighten the workforce on the same. The CEO will also see to it that the plan is shared with the city’s emergency response department for recommendation and approval. 4.1 Essential functions The emergency department identifies several healthcare services and supporting resources to be essential in the facility. The COOP sets recovery time objectives that regards the reconstituion of several key processes to normal operation (ASPR, 2015). The essential functions plan is highly dependent with the type of services offered at the health facility and as such may be varied to suit different operational environments. The essential functions are listed in appendix A. 4.2 COOP team The COOP team will be a team comprised of several employees and the management team who will have adequate training on emergency cases (Morash, 2013). This team will be expected to carry additional responsibilities and functions in the case of an emergency which are highlighted in the plan below: 4.2.1 Head of emergency department - Will be the head of the COOP implementation process CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN - 5 Coordinates with the city of Wilmington’s emergency and response department with regard to any assistance on restoration of essential functions - Will advise departmental heads on the various steps of actions to take in the case of emergency - Will consult with the City’s emergency response team if need be. - Reports to the chief executive officer 4.2.2 COOP Coordinators - Each department of the healthcare facility will have a COOP coordinator - Will function to coordinate the COOP implementation in each department - Will play an important role in identification of essential functions that may be affected by a particular disruption - Initiate recovery process of essential functions e.g. through relocation - Designates various responsibilities to other departmental employees with regard to the COOP implementation - Will report to the head of the emergency department 4.2.3 Reconstitution managers - Will be based in every department - Main function will be to provide a time based plan of activities on how the department’s essential functions will be resumed - Also ensures that the physical operational area is safe for continued operations and if not sanction for a relocation - Reports to the departmental COOP coordinator 4.2.4 Departmental personnel CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 5.0 6 - Expected to have adequate knowledge of the COOP implementation process - Be knowledgeable of individual roles and responsibilities in the case of emergency - Ensure that patients are well taken care of during the continuity environment - Reports to the departmental reconstitution manager Risk assessment The emergency department is to conduct an extensive analysis on possible risks and threats to essential operations of the healthcare facility. The risk assessment process may be conducted in conjunction with the city of Wilmington’s emergency response department for more conclusive findings. Some of the pre-identified risks associated with the facility are tabulated below: Hazard Type Frequency Duration Magnitude of risk Communication breakdown Technological Moderate Moderate Moderate IT system failure Technological Moderate Moderate High Tornado Natural Short Moderate Power loss Technological Rare Short High Moderate Table 1 6.0 Continuity Elements The facility’s healthcare management in collaboration with the department of health has set up a succession order in the case individuals holding leadership or managerial position are incapacitated to perform their roles effectively e.g. due to death and resignation. Position Successor 1 Successor 2 Chief executive Medical Director Chief nurse officer Successor 3 Successor 4 General manager Director pharmacy of CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN Medical Director Chief Nurse Chief Nurse 7 General Director Manager pharmacy General manager Director pharmacy of Patient of Patient service manager service Administrator manager Table 2 6.1 Continuity of operations The board of the healthcare facility upon approval by the department of health has identified 2 healthcare institutions to transfer essential healthcare functions in the case of an emergency event. Below is a description of the two facilities: Alternative facility Type of facility Location St. Francis Hospital General hospital 701 N Clayton St, Wilmington, DE 19805 Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children 1600 Rockland Rd, Wilmington, DE Hospital for Children 19803 Table 3 6.2 Delegation of authority The emergency department upon approval from the board of directors provides a criterion for delegation of authority in the case of an emergency event. The delegation of authority criterion will be triggered in the event that the normal administrative protocol is disrupted e.g. due to death of persons in a leadership position (Virginia Department of Emergency Management, 2010). The said process will however be terminated once normalcy is resumed within the healthcare facility. CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN Authority Type of Position authority 8 Successors Triggering conditions holding authority Closure of the Emergency healthcare CEO authority Chairman of Board of Unsafe environment for directors, members of both facility Board of directors Administrative CEO, Chairman of Board of When healthcare authority Medical directors, members of holding Director Board of Chief nursing officer, external General City e.g. leadership authority team is directors, unavailable meeting with leaders and workforce Represent facility when patients manager, Administrator health officials and emergency response team Relocate Emergency CEO, Chairman of Board of Unsafe environment for essential authority Medical directors, members of both Director Board of directors operations patients workforce and personnel to alternative facility Table 4 7.0 Concept of operations The concept of operations is a framework that will be used by the healthcare facility to implement the COOP effectively. The framework also aims to describe in the simplest way possible how each element of the COOP will be covered (Virginia Department of Emergency Management, 2010). and CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 9 The concept of operations for the healthcare facility will be presented in tabular form and will focus on the degree of disruption and a decision matrix. Depending on the nature of emergency, the implementation plan may be altered to cater for the needs of each department within the healthcare facility (Morash, 2013). Degree of Category Potential impacts Decisions to be made disruption/ on essential functions Emergency of healthcare facility 4 Day-to-day Normal operations/ operations within Normal the facility operation No decision Adequate number of employees reports to duty 3 Alert An anticipated Departmental personnel inform the reconstitution emergency scenario which manager who assesses the level of emergency but is not detrimental to The manager may not necessarily inform the COOP manager since no COOP implementation is required. essential functions of the The reconstitution manager should however mobilize appropriate personnel to manage the facility situation The impacts of the emergency scenario are projected not to CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 10 last more than 12 operational hours 2 Partial An emergency or The emergency department within the facility alerts COOP disruptive implementat scenario ion incapacitates the management team including the chief executive that officer. The COOP coordinator meets with the CEO and essential discusses the steps of actions before alerting other functions of the COOP team members. healthcare facility for at least 3 days. The reconstitution manager embarks on a process recovery process aided by personnel within the Vital processes department as per partial COOP implementation and systems guidelines. necessary for healthcare delivery are The reconstitution manager may mobilize resources affected and personnel from other departments and activate succession orders upon approval by the COOP coordinator. Relocation of key processes and personnel to a secondary location for atleast 3 days may also be done for continuity of operations. The implementation process should however not exceed 14 days since the emergence of the disruptive event. 1 Full A real disruption The emergency department within the healthcare implementat that ion detrimental impacts essential has facility alerts all heads of departments as well as the senior management team. on CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 11 functions of the The COOP coordinator alerts all team members of healthcare facility the situation and provides instructions for the full for at least 7 days. implementation plan. Key processes and Activities carried out are heavily dependent on the personnel affected are nature of emergency and the affected departments. hence requiring an immediate full The implementation procedure may however involve relocation of key processes and personnel as well as activation of succession orders. COOP implantation The CEO at this juncture requests assistance from procedure the city of Wilmington’s emergency response team to work together with the local COOP team in restoration of essential processes. The COOP coordinator works closely with departmental heads to utilize available resources efficiently. the COOP implementation process should ensure that essential functions are restored for at least 14 days during the emergency. Table 5 7.1 COOP alert and notification The COOP alert and notification plan aims to develop a criteria or procedure regarding the flow of information in the case of an emergency or a disruptive event (Clark and Biddinger, 2013). The alert tree is based from the time a risk or threat to the facility’s essential functions is identified at the primary level to when all stakeholders are informed and appropriate actions taken. CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 12 The healthcare facility has a notification system installed at each work station in every department that allows information to be disseminated within the shortest time possible. The management has also adopted an open-door policy where junior employees may physically contact members of the management team freely in the case of threats to essential healthcare services. The alert tree is described below: 7.2 COOP implementation procedure CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 13 The implementation procedure will be tailored along the specific emergency event hence various procedures may be available for an institution. The following procedure may however be used as a guide through which various implementation plans for different emergency events may be developed: 7.2.1 Procedure description The details provided below regards departmental procedures during the implementation of COOP in the case of failure to access the healthcare facility, failure to provide healthcare services as a result of system or equipment breakdown or the failure to provide healthcare services due to a reduced number of employees. The COOP may be altered based on the causes of the actual emergency situation as well as the available resources (Virginia Department of Emergency Management, 2010). The plan is provided assuming that all personnel are aware of their responsibilities during the implementation process and that upon implementation, the COOP plan will go a long way in reducing the losses or effects that may be brought about by the emergency events (Morash, 2013). 7.2.2 Activation and Relocation phase This phase is headed by the COOP coordinator who updates all key personnel of their responsibilities during the implementation and assisted by the reconstitution manager. Preparatory plans to coordinate the COOP implementation process are discussed between team members. These should be tailored along the specific emergency case and the support functions necessary for recovery of essential processes e.g. notification of personnel of the emergency situation and issuance of appropriate instructions (ASPR, 2015). CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 14 The heads of departments should ensure and confirm that are personnel are evacuated from the healthcare facilities based on the actual COOP event (Clark and Biddinger, 2013). The reconstitution managers and supervisors are expected to verify personnel contact lists through physical interaction with employees as well as patients present in the facility at the time. Verified personnel should then be relocated to an alternative facility location within 12 hours where the following takes place: - The COOP reconstitution manager initiates plans to return essential healthcare functions back to normal - The COOP coordinator provides instructions and guidance to other team members on the adaptive process to the new location - The COOP team collaborates with other relevant stakeholders including the City’s emergency response team to ensure normalization of both internal and external essential functions. 7.2.3 Reconstitution phase During this phase, the reconstitution manager in conjunction with the COOP coordinator should develop procedures to allow reconstitution of essential functions in the case of an emergency event. The head of the emergency department may upon the implementation of the COOP and verification by the COOP coordinator inform the chief executive officer that the threat or emergency situation has been nullified or fully managed (Clark and Biddinger, 2013). Resumptions of normal healthcare services may then resume upon approval by the CEO. The emergency department may review the effectiveness of the COOP plan by analyzing each step taken and their outcomes (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2016). A review report CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 15 should then be written by the COOP coordinator and handed over to the facility’s CEO as well as the executive leadership of Wilmington city. 8.0 Interim Processes The healthcare facility may also have alternative operations or operations that may be used to achieve some level of functionality before normalization of normal services. Interim processes are important in reducing the magnitude of losses especially in the case where essential operations are completely cut off (Virginia Department of Emergency Management, 2010). These processes are heavily dependent on the available resources within the healthcare facility as well as the nature of the emergency event. The table below should be filled by the COOP team to enable restoration of essential services effectively. Some examples of interim processes have been provided. Essential process Emergency event Interim process Recovery time objective Communications Failure of the Use physical contacting methods 48 hours communication Adopt use of messengers network Use of alternative communication lines such as fax, pagers and voice lines Administration Breakdown of and logistics support system IT Manually retrieve patient 24 hours records Use manual register for patient appointments CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN Primary Reduction Healthcare number of employees delivery in 16 the Contract temporary healthcare 24 hours Breakdown professionals of Develop a utilization plan for essential equipment active essential equipment for use by the most critical patients Table 6 9.0 Appendix Appendix A: Essential functions Essential function Description Key Vital records personnel Systems equipment and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) Communications Patient care unit Administration and logistics Primary Healthcare deliver Operational and maintenance functions Table 7 The above form should be filled out by the COOP coordinator. The time objective provided is variable and will depend on the level of emergency and available resources to manage the situation. CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN 17 References ASPR (2015). Healthcare COOP & Recovery Planning Concepts, Principles, Templates & Resources. Retrieved from http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/hpp/reports/Documents/hc-coop2-recovery.pdf Clark, E. M and Biddinger, D. P. (2013). Essential Functions and Considerations for Hospital Recovery; Emergency Preparedness Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.nasemso.org/Projects/DomesticPreparedness/documents/Essential-Functions-andConsiderations-of-Hospital-Recovery.pdf Federal Emergency Management Agency (2016). Continuity of Operations (COOP) Multi-Year Strategy and Program Management Plan Template Guide. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1393947474558f38b6ada217b16fc8aa67e207362f6f9/MYSPMP%20Template.pdf Morash, A. S. (2013). Emergency response and continuity of operations planning – Boston University. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/orc/files/2013/06/BU-COOP.pdf Virginia Department of Emergency Management (2010). Continuity of Operations (COOP) Department Plan Template – City of Richmond. Retrieved from http://www.richmondgov.com/fire/documents/RichmondDepartmentTemplateV2.pdf
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