Emergency

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703-324-7329 TTY 711
12000 Government Center Parkway
Fairfax, VA 22035
Contact Name
Chairman

Houses of Worship

Introduction

Emergencies like natural disasters, accidents, and acts of terrorism can happen anywhere, including Fairfax County. Many houses of worship are not fully prepared simply due to a lack of awareness or knowledge on how to plan effectively. We’re asking our faith-based community to take an active role in promoting emergency preparedness. This guide provides the tools to help you educate your congregation and other houses of worship, so you can reduce the impact of unexpected events and ensure your community remains safe and resilient. Your efforts can make a real difference in protecting those you serve.

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RESILIENCE PLAN


Your house of worship resilience planning addresses the impacts most likely to disrupt your house of worship, the critical activities that are essential to stay open and recovery quickly, and resilience strategies to keep those critical activities running.
There are 4 basic steps to building House of Worship resilience:

  • Identify risks that make your house of worship vulnerable (Risk Assessment).
  • Analyze the impacts those risks potentially have on your house of worship (House of Worship Impact Analysis).
  • Create a resilience strategy and plan using the template included in this guide.
  • Measure your efforts through testing, training, and maintaining your documents.

Planning Template

PLANNING TEMPLATE


In the Plan, Prepare, Protect Guide, you will find an easy-to-follow template to kickstart your efforts in building a resilient house of worship. The template consists of five steps that walk you through the planning process. 

  1. Plan to Stay Open
  2. Emergency Contact and Communications
  3. Evacuation
  4. Lockdown
  5. Share, Practice, Train, and Review

Core Action Checklists

CORE ACTION CHECKLISTS

The Four Phases of Emergency Management help houses of worship build resilience. The first phase is Mitigate, which involves taking actions to reduce the impact of potential disasters by aligning safety measures with organizational values. Next is Prepare, which focuses on planning ahead, creating emergency plans, and holding drills to ensure readiness for any hazards. The Respond phase includes taking immediate actions during an emergency to protect lives and property, such as seeking shelter or shutting off utilities. Finally, the Recovery phase addresses rebuilding after an emergency by assessing damages and assisting the community in returning to a safer, more stable situation. These phases occur before, during, and after the incident, which is important to think about when planning.

Checklists

Mitigation Checklist (Before and After Incident)

  • Identify potential internal and external hazards.
  • Complete a risk assessment.
  • Address priority hazards.
  • Identify hazards that may impede emergency evacuation for those with disabilities, access and functional needs.
  • Secure your space (begin by addressing hazards starting at no/low-cost items with high impact).
  • Strengthen your property, such as using surge protectors or getting a generator (actions if you lease or own).
  • Review your insurance coverage and design a program that fits your house of worship and risk.
  • Plan on what items you will be required to provide when filing an insurance claim.
  • Be diligent in continuing solutions that work for your house of worship.

Preparedness Checklist (Before Incident)

  • Build a planning team.
  • Complete the House of Worship Disaster Resilience template in this guide.
  • Gather disaster supplies.
  • Create first aid/medical kits.
  • Encourage congregants to make their own emergency kits.
  • Review the designated shelter-in-place and lock down locations.
  • Educate congregants and visitors on safety protocols.
  • Train your staff on the emergency plans.
  • Update and test your plan through regularly scheduled drills.
  • Build ties with your community and agencies that can help you recover quickly.
  • Consider how your house of worship may be able to help congregants and their families with support and resources if a crisis occurs (e.g., food, housing, childcare, wage advances).
  • Sign up for Fairfax Alerts to stay informed.
  • Sign up your house of worship for Community Connect.
  • Follow @ReadyFairfax and @FairfaxCounty on social media.

 

Organize house of worship emergency Supplies Ensure your staff and key congregants know the location of these supplies and practice using them during training.

  • First aid kits/medical supplies
  • Water • Food and food preparation tools
  • Lighting (flashlights, batteries)
  • Communications (chargers, weather radios)
  • Tools
  • Personal protective equipment
  • Back-up power
  • Additional supplies

Response Checklist (During Incident)

  • Decide if evacuation is necessary or shelter-in-place.
  • Activate staff and volunteers to help the injured.
  • When safe, observe the building(s) for damage and/or hazards.

Recovery Checklist (After Incident)

  • Perform a detailed facilities assessment of impacts to utilities, special equipment, inventory, etc.
  • Provide staff and congregants with instructions on how to obtain information about house of worship operating status.
  • File an insurance claim as soon as possible.
  • Restore operations/productions.
  • Communicate frequently with key stakeholders (staff, vendors, congregants).
  • Document lessons learned.
  • Update resilience plan/templates.
  • Restock kits and supplies.

Introduction to Preparedness for Houses of Worship

TRAININGS FOR HOUSES OF WORSHIP

Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE)

  • Provides situational awareness training and how to respond if you find yourself in an active violence situation.
  • Class lasts approximately 1-1.5 hours.

Stop the Bleed

  • A hands-on course that will help you recognize life-threatening bleeding and how to control it with three quick techniques.
  • Class lasts approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Worship Watch

  • A crime prevention class for your House of Worship that cover definitions of crimes, how to report crimes, observational skills, and builds the foundation for a security team.
  • Class lasts approximately 1 hour.

Hidden in Plain Sight (HIPS) or Kids in Today’s Society (KITS)

  • Discusses current trends in social media, narcotics, and mental health concerns in the teen population and how to properly talk to your kids about these issues.
  • Class is approximately 1-2 hours.

Personal Safety

  • Class discusses situational awareness and techniques to keep you safe in everyday life.
  • Class is approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
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