Why Hazard Vulnerability Analysis is More than Checking a Box

3 key questions to assess your vulnerability

Sometimes the role of an emergency manager can encompass making sure the boxes are checked from a regulatory standpoint—and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

At times, those tasks we are required to mark off the checklist help us to accomplish our broader goal to ensure we are as protected and prepared as possible.

Hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) is one of those big-ticket items. HVA guides our emergency exercise development and planning and leads us to complete our after-action reports (AAR). These processes help find strengths and opportunities to improve.

We do not have to look far to understand why this work matters:

• The CrowdStrike incident that impacted computers in all sectors including health care
• The anticipation of a dockworkers strike that eventually came to fruition for a short time and disrupted the supply chain
• Two major hurricanes that impacted one supplier of IV and dialysis fluid and narrowly missed another

3 Questions

In reviewing your HVA, there may have been low-ranking potential hazards that have moved up your priority list. Supply chain impact and IT failure may be two examples.

As Baxter began to issue guidance about how to mitigate IV shortages shortly after the hurricane, I started to look for AARs from the last hurricane that impacted Puerto Rico in 2017. Those lessons learned and mitigation strategies implemented may offer some strategies and practices that could once again be implemented. 

Consider these most recent questions that take us beyond checking the box:

• We had our HVA completed. Does it need updated?
• We've experienced some significant events, have they forced you to implement your emergency operations plan, and do they take the place of an exercise?
• Have you been able to work through an AAR on any of the previous incidents (such as CrowdStrike) and are notes being gathered currently to allow for the same with the IV fluid shortage?

As emergency managers, we hate to see when tragic situations occur, but we are tasked with learning from them. Checking the box doesn’t just occur once a year. We must maintain our forward-leaning posture to stay prepared and resilient for when the next incident that will occur.

For more information, contact Ryan Weaver, MBA, BSN, RN, CPPS, CHEP, manager, emergency management.

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