The Ontario Regulation 380/04 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act provides a number of compliant requirements that all municipalities must meet.
The Brampton Emergency Management Office (BEMO) is responsible for ensuring that the City of Brampton is in compliance with all municipal emergency management program requirements. The City of Brampton meets and exceeds all the stated requirements:
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Appointment of a Community Emergency Management Coordinator (CEMC): Every municipality is required to designate a CEMC who is also required to complete certain training.
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Emergency Management Program Committee (EMPC): Every municipality is required to have an EMPC – to assist in the development and advise the Municipal Council.
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Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment (HIRA): All municipalities must identify and assess the hazards and risks to their municipality.
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Critical Infrastructure (CI): Every municipality is required to identify facilities and other infrastructure that is at risk of being impacted by emergencies.
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Municipal Emergency Plan: Municipalities are required to develop an Emergency Plan governing the provision of necessary services during an emergency, as well detailing the procedures that are to be followed by the people who will respond to the emergency.
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Emergency Operations Centre (EOC): Every municipality in Ontario is required to establish an EOC to be used by the MECG during emergencies.
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Municipal Emergency Control Group (MECG): Every municipality is required to have a MECG that is responsible for directing the municipal response during an emergency, including the implementation of the municipal emergency plan.
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Emergency Information Officer (EIO): Every municipality must designate an employee of the municipality as its EIO, who acts as the primary media and public contact for the municipality in an emergency.
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Public Education: Increase awareness among the residents of the municipality about both the specific hazards that are present in the municipality, as well as about emergency preparedness in general.
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Emergency Management Program Annual Review: Conduct an annual review of the municipality’s emergency management program (training & exercises).
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Emergency Management Program By-law: Every municipality is required to adopt their municipal emergency management program through a by-law.
Phases of Emergency Management
The five generally recognized phases in emergency management:
- Prevention activities reduce the potential for emergencies. We have done work in Brampton on this primarily with regards to coordination with industries handling hazardous goods. We also developed plans aiming at protecting our critical infrastructure.
- Mitigation planning reduces the impact of emergencies that we cannot prevent. The Greater Toronto Conservation Authority has worked with the City of Brampton for a number of years to institute a floodplains management program. Urban planning also has ensured that the city places new residential areas away from high-risk industrial sectors and heavy transportation corridors of the city. Work is also in progress to designate hazardous goods transportation routes in Brampton away from residential areas.
- Preparedness management ensures we have all the tools required to respond to emergencies. It involves writing plans, training employees and partners, implementing and testing the plans, and educating the public.
Response is what we do when an emergency occurs. All the work done in the three previous phases come together at this stage. Much of the work of the Emergency Management Office at that time is to coordinate support services to the emergency site. The emergency responders are capable of handling most situations but may require additional resources. The emergency may also have an impact on the rest of the population outside of the emergency area. That is when the Emergency Management Office steps in to aid in coordinating response.
- Recovery efforts start where the response ends and sometimes even before. Our recovery plan includes tasks related to cleanup, restoration, rebuilding and generally trying to get back to previous conditions. It also includes elements such as grief counselling and helping in creating jobs to compensate for those lost because of the emergency. It even includes economic recovery when a major event hits the commercial and/or industrial base of our city. We are working with organizations such as the Board of Trade and others to ensure we are ready to cope with such situations.
