Prevention

Task 1: Data Harvesting

Developing prevention plans starts with gathering data and information related to the assessment. Pertinent information to assist in establishing the context of the assessment may include the following items:

• Stakeholders
• Regulatory environment
• Financial situation
• Culture/social environment
• Vulnerabilities
• Resources (e.g., personnel, capital)
• Occupant/emergency responder characteristics
• Operational/functional characteristics
• Timeline

Task 2: Establishing Objectives

Objectives then need to be established. Objectives typically reflect a common aim of the stakeholders involved. Objectives can be measured qualitatively rather than quantitatively. Objectives typically are stated in different forms. These are dependent on the intention of assessment and what the prevention measures are intended to do. With respect to crisis management, prevention can assist to further understand impacts on such areas as people (general populations, emergency responders), property (contents, structures, etc.), continuity of business operations, cultural heritage, and the overall environment. Stakeholders’ objectives can also lead to identifying how prevention is to be developed and implemented.

It is important to note that objectives may not be the same everywhere or for everyone and will need to be developed and tailored to each individual situation. For example, objectives that have been established for a single building may vary from those of other buildings on the site because of its criticality to overall operations, vulnerability to specific hazards, degree of redundancy, and other related criteria. There may be times that objectives established for a given situation compete with each other. These should be appropriately assessed. This, for instance, occurs at times with life safety–related matters with regard to fire when one needs to try to contain the heat and smoke while at the same time allowing occupants to exit and emergency responders to enter various compartments and stairways in a building.

When developing objectives related to prevention, one needs to comprehend the vulnerabilities of a given situation. This assists in identifying the risk and in determining whether it is acceptable or whether additional prevention measures or other mitigation measures may need to be provided to manage a hazard. These assessments and understandings need to occur, as they will feed into the development of the next step in identifying specific performance criteria for the specific hazard(s).

The objectives are next transformed into quantitative performance criteria.

Task 3: Establishing Performance Criteria

Metrics then need to be developed so as to be able to more quantitatively assess the objectives against the hazards. Performance criteria are therefore defined in terms that can be directly measured or calculated. For instance, in business or industry, this may be stated in terms of maximum downtime, or in disaster management, performance criteria may be quantified in terms of an earthquake's magnitude and location, or the highest potential flood level.

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