Howard County Emergency Operations Center Representative Training Program

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The Howard County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) created (2021) and then revamped (2022) an Emergency Management Operations Center (EOC) Representative Training Program following the COVID-19 pandemic response. This program looks to reengage, retrain, and reenergize essential, non-emergency management staff from various County Departments who serve during emergency response and recovery operations. When a disaster occurs, it takes the whole County coordinating to respond and recover. Almost every department, office, and agency has a role or subject matter expertise to bring to the table and it’s OEM’s job to coordinate, train, see the large picture, and make all the puzzle pieces fit together. The purpose of the EOC Representative Training is to provide background on what emergency management is, what OEM does both day to day and during emergency operations, provide an orientation and overview of the County's EOC, how the County functions during disasters under the Comprehensive Emergency Response and Recovery Plan and Incident Command System, and how agencies work together to serve as an EOC Representative (either under a Community Coordinating Function role or an EOC Support Position (Command and General Staff). This training is for both new EOC staff and those who have worked in previous activations.