Planning | Risk Assessment

Resource Identification Worksheet

GEN Capacity Assessment

ReadyCity Resource Management

When you’re ready to begin developing response plans for your ReadyCity, the most strategic place to start is by taking assessments of what resources you currently have that would be available in times of crisis. The process of knowing what resources are available and how they will be used in emergencies is known as resource management.

Resource Management is vital to developing response plans as a ReadyCity. Knowing what the Christian organizations in your city have available for use in times of emergency is the goal behind conducting what is known as a “capacity assessment.” The assessment in the downloadable material will help you identify what resources you have available, your capacity.

Capacity Assessment Design

This capacity assessment is designed for ReadyCity use, as well as for Church Emergency Teams to advance the state of readiness in your local churches and Christian organizations. The assessment is designed to provide a snapshot of all the information you will need to move to the next phase of developing Biblically Readiness. This works best if you have each organization that is part of the ReadyCity fill one out for their organization so you can collect a collaborative assessment of what is available. Once the readiness phase of the ReadyCity has been completed, the Christian organizations will re-take this survey to determine progress for internal as well as external purposes.

The Capacity Assessment is divided into two worksheets (all of which are available in the download material):

1. Organizational Information Worksheet
2. Resource Identification Worksheet

Capacity Assessment Use

There are three uses for the ReadyCity Assessment worksheets: baseline analysis, annual updates for the purpose of your ReadyCity, and progression in your overall ongoing city emergency plans.

At the conclusion, you will determine if your Christian community has its own “readiness” emergency or in what areas your city is weak and therefore needs to develop a plan to strengthen those areas identified.

While some of the questions are subjective in nature, please be as realistic as possible with your responses as you are the greatest beneficiary of the results.

The assessment results will become the basis for developing your own city emergency plan, determining your progress and defining the ways in which your Christian community is uniquely called to serve those facing emergencies of all kinds, large or small.

It is best compiled by one or more persons who will take responsibility in your community to conduct it carefully; repeat it annually; and report accurately to the city emergency team, pastor, staff, and the ReadyCity.

Capacity Assessment Rationale

The ReadyCity is uniquely positioned to provide capacity, capability, and pastoral presence during all types of emergencies. High value is placed upon pre-determined sites for safety, refuge and recovery in emergencies. The ReadyCity can provide these valuable assets to their own Christian community members, their extended community, and their nation.

Capacity Assessment and Data Security

Remember that you’ll not only want to process the data for searching, aggregating, and decision making, but this information is likely important for other entities such as your local Emergency Operations Centers – EOCs - if applicable, or with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

You’ll want to have some information in a format that is easily sharable with others, some information that is only shared within your emergency team, and other information that you may want to make public (depending upon a specific response).

Memo of Understanding (MOU) Agreement Template

Risk Assessment Defined

According to the Ready.gov website, a risk assessment is defined as “a process to identify potential hazards and analyze what could happen if a hazard occurs.” The primary goal of the risk assessment and impact analysis report is to identify the risks and how they could potentially affect the Christian community.

With leaders in place, it’s time to make the plan to “ready” Christians and the Church to respond to crisis needs and disasters in the community. Every community has different threats to consider. The ReadyCity Emergency Plan will help you prioritize and take into consideration how you will prepare the Church to meet these needs. For example:

1. Michigan will need a cold weather response plan, while hurricanes represent a much more remote possibility. Many parts of Michigan suffer from severe job loss. This must be considered.
2. Florida, with a regular season of hurricanes to prepare for, may need less in the way of disaster preparedness and more attention paid to the crisis needs of seniors losing their retirement funds.
3. Arizona has heat and kidnappings to content with.
4. Everyone has the crisis needs brought on by divorce, sudden illness or injury, crime, loss of loved ones, and the growing number of incidences of church violence.

A Ministry Risk/Impact Analysis predicts the consequences of disruption of a ministry function and process and gathers information needed to develop recovery strategies. Potential loss scenarios should be identified during a risk assessment. Operations may also be interrupted by the failure of a supplier of goods or services or delayed deliveries.

Conducting a risk assessment and impact analysis is foundational to developing your ReadyCity Emergency Operations Plans.

Conducting a Risk Assessment

There are numerous potential hazards to consider when conducting a Risk Assessment. For each hazard there are many possible scenarios that could unfold depending on timing, magnitude and location of the hazard.

There are many “assets” at risk from hazards. First and foremost, injuries to people should be the first consideration of the Risk Assessment. Hazard scenarios that could cause significant injuries should be highlighted to ensure that appropriate emergency plans are in place. Many other physical assets may be at risk. These include buildings, information technology, utility systems, machinery, raw materials and finished goods. Consider the impact an incident could have on your relationships with customers, the surrounding community, your city, and other stakeholders.

Consider situations that would cause your city to lose confidence in the Christian community and its services.

As you conduct the Risk Assessment, look for vulnerabilities – weaknesses – that would make an asset more susceptible to damage from a hazard. Vulnerabilities include deficiencies in building construction, process systems, security, protection systems and loss prevention programs. They contribute to the severity of damage when an incident occurs.

A list of common threats and risks that face the Christian community can be found in the downloaded material called “Identifying Types of Crises and Disasters.” CEN recommends reviewing that list while filling out the Risk Assessment Template.

Conducting an Impact Analysis

Once you’ve identified potential risks to your Christian community by completing the risk assessment, the Ministry Impact Analysis is designed to identify the operational and financial impacts resulting from the disruption of community functions and processes. Some of the impacts to consider include:

• Lost finances
• Loss of leadership
• Loss of property
• Criminal impacts
• Increased expenses

Timing and Duration of Disruption

The point in time when a Christian community function or process is disrupted can have a significant bearing on the loss sustained. A church with an active shooter incident during the week versus on a Sunday during a service is an example of the difference in impact. A pastor being sick for a week versus facing a debilitating chronic illness also impacts the speed of return to “normalcy” in the church. A short duration of illness may be easily overcome by having an associate pastor take care of the pastoral responsibilities whereas a longer disruption could have a more significant impact.

Sample Christian community Disruption Scenarios

• Physical damage to a building
• Restricted access to a site or building
• Interruption of services
• Utility outage
• Damage to, loss or corruption of information technology including voice and data communications, servers, computers, operating systems, applications and data
• Absenteeism/illness of essential employees

The graphic below explains the process of designing an Impact Analysis.

Conducting the Ministry Impact Analysis

You can use a Ministry Impact Analysis to survey staff, ministry leaders, volunteers and others in the Christian community to discover how the community operates its services as a unified group. Ask them to identify the potential impacts if the community function or process that they are responsible for is interrupted. The Ministry Impact Analysis should also identify the critical ministry processes and resources needed for the Christian organization to continue to function at different levels. A Sample Ministry Impact Analysis Template is in the downloadable material.

Writing an Impact Analysis Report

The Ministry Impact Analysis report should document the potential impacts resulting from disruption of Christian community functions and processes. Scenarios resulting in significant interruption should be assessed in terms of financial impact, if possible. These costs should be compared with the costs for possible recovery strategies.

The Ministry Impact Analysis report should prioritize the order of events for restoration of the Christian community. Organization processes with the greatest operational and financial impacts should be restored first. The Impact Analysis Report is NOT designed to address a solution to the potential risks. Those will be addressed in the Emergency Operations Plan.