In this webinar, Bijan Karimi, assistant deputy director for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, stresses that it takes all aspects of a community, not just governmental organizations, to effectively prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate any disaster.A cornerstone of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) ‘Whole Community’ preparedness initiative relies on public and private organizations partnering for mutual benefit.  Waiting until the event has already happened is not the time to see what each player can bring to the table.  A solid relationship begins with joint planning and information exchange and leads to a coordinated, successful response.

In the webinar, Karimi skillfully walks through the phases of emergency management: Prevent/Protect, Prepare, Mitigate, Respond, and Recover, and the specific steps a company should take to prepare for each of those phases. He also discusses the hallmarks of successful partnerships, including:

• Commitment
• Proper resourcing
• Two-way communication
• Mutually beneficial experiences

The webinar includes vivid, real world examples of working public/private partnerships.

Matt Bogaard, head of corporate security for Dreamworks Animation, discusses the company’s participation in the city of Glendale’s Back to Business Program (B2B Program) that focuses on getting the city back up and running following an event such as an earthquake or other natural disaster. The innovative public-private partnership focuses on the importance of rapid recovery. The B2B Program basis is to work with businesses to pre-certify their buildings or campuses prior to a disaster to expedite the inspection process and provide business owners information about the safety of their buildings days, if not weeks, sooner than would be possible without B2B.

Jon Frisch, PhD, CBCP, manager, Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, discusses the company’s focus on situational awareness and showcases just how important government relationships are to the company.

“Effective disaster planning and response is all about relationships, and knowing how your response partners will be acting or reacting. For a utility, we depend on established relationships with our government partners to make it possible to physically get to our facilities and to the damaged infrastructure, to help us frame the priorities for restoration work, and to provide us with situational awareness we may not receive on our own,” Frisch says.

Throughout the webinar, Karimi details the benefits of public/private partnerships, breaking down all the pre-event steps that can be taken, as well as advising on post-event preparedness and expectations.  Opening relationships with governmental organizations will improve the continuity of your operation, deepen your community involvement, improve communications and supply chain management, and so much more.

Walk away from the webinar with an action plan and real world examples that vividly showcase why public/partnerships matter to you and your business.

Listen to the archived webinar on-demand now!