Coronavirus Updates
For accurate information on the Coronavirus impact on LA County, please the Los Angeles County, CDC, WHO and State Department website links below:
LA County of Public Health Center for Disease Control
World health Organization US Dept of State Travel Updates
BICEPP - Helping Businesses Become Disaster Resilient
Founded under the direction of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in 1983
BICEPP: a non-profit professional association of emergency management and business continuity professionals from both the private and public sector. Our mission is to provide a forum for information exchange in order to enhance disaster resilience within the business community.
Mission: Our goal is to provide a forum for information exchange to enhance emergency preparedness and contingency planning within the business community.
Website: On this site, you’ll find a list of BICEPP's scheduled events; links to programs and events of interest to our members and friends; articles, links and resources helpful for the business and disaster communities; and specific disaster related information for the business community. Scroll down and use the buttons to navigate our site. If you are new to BICEPP, we hope you will consider joining BICEPP to gain access to reduced event fees and resources reserved for BICEPP members only.
Sign-up for Membership Here
Announcing a BICEPP Breakfast & Learn
How Social Media has Devastated Public Relations
Feb 12 - 07:00 to 09:00
Tarzana IHOP
How has social media has changed the relationship a company has with the public during and after a crisis? Ken Kondo, an expert in dealing with the press and social media, will share his experiences and answer questions on how social media has changed our world.
BICEPP Members Are Free - Cost $0
Non-Members - $15.00
Limited to about 20 participants
Register Here
SPONSORED BY:
2020 Devastated Social Media BICEPP Flyer Feb 12.pdf
Nominations Are Open For BICEPP’s 2020 Awardees
Both members and friends of BICEPP are encouraged to nominate any person, group or organization who has contributed significantly to the field of emergency preparedness, management, mitigation, response or planning. Nominees should be role models to other emergency professionals (aspiring and veteran) and demonstrate dedication, positive attitude and outstanding job performance. Awardee’s will be recognized at BICEPP’s Annual Award’s Dinner in Nov.
2020 BICEPP Awards Process.pdf
Nominate Here
A Special Thanks to BICEPP's Generous Benefactor 2020 Sponsors
www.nbcuniversal.com
www.emergency.lacity.org
www.facebook.com/nathan.wolfstein
2019 Annual Awards' Dinner - Awesome Evening
Held on November 21, 2019 from 6:00 to 10:00 PM at The Proud Bird Events Center (near LAX)
Each year we recognize individuals and organizations for their contributions supporting our mission. BICEPP’s Annual Awards event is a great networking opportunity to meet BICEPP members and other disaster management professionals. And, as always, we conclude with our "world" famous exciting free raffle. Here are this year's awardees:
2019 Invitation.pdf
Meet the 2019 BICEPP Awardees - Bios Here
President's Award
Jeff Edelstein
Owner, SOS Survival Products
Award Of Excellent Recipients
Recognition Awardees
Rising Star Awardees
Membership
More info on member types (Individual, Corporate and Benefactor) and benefits at: BICEPP Member Benefits From Dropdown Menu
BICEPP's Sep 2018 Emergency Management Conference
"Road to Resiliency"
The 2018 conference was attended by dozens of private and government emergency management specialists and sponsors. The three primary speakers delivered some powerful and insightful presentations:
Dr Dennis Mileti - "Modernizing Public Warning Messaging"; Abby Browning - "Benefit Private-Public Partnerships"; & Daniel Wall - "The Tale of Two Cities - Thomas Fire"
These were flanked by several interesting TED type Flash Talks covering a variety of fascinating topics:
Emergency Communications; Building & Equipping a Corporate Emergency Operations Center (EOC); Activating an EOC; Ready Your LA Neighbothood; ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning; ABC's of Disaster Drills; Lessons Learned From Past Earthquakes: & Emergency Supply Management Tips
Special thanks to our Premier Sponsors:
Paul Hernandez - Homeland Security Advisory Council
and Patricia Kerrigan, PhD, Think Trauma Kits
THE RIDGECREST EARTHQUAKES (July 5, 2019)
BICEPP AFTER DISASTER REPORT (www.bicepp.org)
The 7.1 Ridgecrest, California earthquake is an example of a high magnitude, relatively low intensity earthquake. Though the shaking in the town of Ridgecrest was stronger than the 7.0 Anchorage earthquake, it was less than the shaking felt in the 2014 6.0 Napa earthquake, and much less than either the 1994 6.7 Northridge earthquake or the 2011 New Zealand 6.3 earthquakes...
2019 THE RIDGECREST EARTHQUAKES-bicepp.docx
Disaster & Business Recovery Information & Events of Interest
Events of interest to BICEPP Members and Friends
NY Times Article June 4, 2019
Buildings Can Be Designed to Withstand Earthquakes. Why Doesn’t the U.S. Build More of Them?
Article Here
Dr Lucy Jones spoke in Granada Hills on Aug 16, 2019 to packed house
Dr. Lucy Jones, renowned seismologist and author of The Big Ones , spoke about Preparing For Increased Risk From Natural Disasters in Granada Hills. Dr Jones in one of the foremost experts on natural disasters, especially the long term affects on Los Angeles environs. It was arranged by BICEPP member Bill Hopkins and the board of the Southern California Preparedness Foundation (SoCalPrep.us). Read More Here
The Great California Shakeout - please register yourself and/or company at shakeout.org for free to be counted as a participant.
Friday, October 15, 2020 at preciously 10:20 am
The ShakeOut began in California and has also been organized in many other states and countries. Official ShakeOut Regions require significant local or regional coordination, typically by an emergency management agency or an alliance of many organizations. If you are interested in establishing a ShakeOut drill for your region please contact us. If your state, province, or country is not yet participating you can register yourself or your organization as part of the global participation total.
Drop, Cover & Hold
Protect yourself. Spread the word.
Principles and Techniques of Securing Your Business & Home
Informative video from one of BICEPP's Board members - principles and techniques of anchorage.....
Earthquake Anchorage Protocol Options for Businesses
From SAFE-T-PROOF
Glen Granholm, Vice-President of Safe-T-Proof Presents:
How do you know what items need to be secured? Determining the best bracing protocol. This video will answer many of your questions.
Glen is also a member of BICEPP's Board of Directors in addition to being an "anchoring" expert.
Check out this very informative video
NOTE: This post is not a BICEPP endorsement of a product or service. However, it is something we feel our membership and disaster professionals will find extremely helpful. We are always interested in credible materials that will better prepare each of us to survive unexpected emergencies.
Supporting Employees During Times of Extreme Circumstance
From: California Resiliency Alliance, Business Recovery Managers Association, and Association of Continuity Professionals. March 29, 2018
From hurricanes in the Gulf Coast to active shooter incidents, and wildfires in the west, the United States had its share of extreme circumstances in 2017.
This report serves to provide insights into how public and private sector organizations are supporting their employees during times of extreme circumstance. The anonymous responses from participants, included in each section, hopefully inspire ideas within your own organization.
The survey was designed to capture free-form responses from a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors. This allowed participants to elaborate on the formal and informal methods their organizations have in place to support employees.
Supporting Employees During Times of Extreme Circumstance Report 03.29.2018.pdf
EMPLOYEE AND PERSONAL SURVIVAL AT WORK
Life Saving Active Shooter Information - too many needless deaths
In light of the terrifying events that unfolded on the campus of #?UCLA, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would like to remind everyone that there is guidance and information, as well as materials and workshops to better prepare you to deal with an active shooter situation.
Please review #?LASD’s “Surviving an Active Shooter”, created to help people answer the question “What Would You Do”:
• IF YOU HAVE TO IMMEDIATELY EXIT A LOCATION, HOW CAN YOU DO SO SAFELY?
• IF YOU CANNOT GET OUTSIDE AND AWAY FROM THE THREAT, HOW CAN YOU SECURE YOURSELF AND THOSE WITH YOU AGAINST ATTACK?
• IF YOU MUST CONFRONT YOUR ATTACKER, HOW CAN YOU DO IT IN A WAY THAT GIVES YOU THE BEST CHANCE OF SUCCESS?
Watch video here: LA Active Shooter Video
On this site, you can also find links to materials produced by other agencies that will help you develop an action and emergency response plan.
http://www.activeshooter.lasd.org/
How To Protect Yourself: A Chronology, Initially published November 16, 2015
Editor's Note: Events such as the Nov. 13 Paris attacks cannot always be predicted, but there are steps you can take to avoid imperiling yourself even more than the situation itself does. Click on the links to the following analyses, culled from the minds of Stratfor security experts, to learn how to increase your chances of survival should the worst happen.
Main Article Topics - Includes Several Helpful Links:
1. What is Your Best Weapon
2. Building Blocks of Personal Security: Reacting to Situation Danger
3. Building Blocks of Personal Security: Situational Awareness
4.Conversation: Reacting to Active Shooter Situations
Workplace Homicides from Shootings
There were 500 workplace homicides in the United States in 2016
Homicides accounted for 10 percent of all fatal occupational injuries in the United States in 2016. There were 500 workplace homicides in 2016, an increase of 83 cases from 2015. The 2016 total was the highest since 2010. Of the workplace homicides in 2016, 409 (82 percent) were homicides to men and 91 (18 percent) were homicides to women. Homicides represented 24 percent of fatal occupational injuries to women in 2016 compared with 9 percent of fatal occupational injuries to men.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) aims to enhance preparedness through a ”whole community” approach by providing training, products, and resources to a broad range of stakeholders on issues such as active shooter awareness, incident response, and workplace violence. In many cases, there is no pattern or method to the selection of victims by an active shooter, and these situations are by their very nature are unpredictable and evolve quickly. DHS offers free courses, materials, and workshops to better prepare you to deal with an active shooter situation and to raise awareness of behaviors that represent pre-incident indicators and characteristics of active shooters.
Contents on this website...:
- Active Shooter Resources for Law Enforcement and Trainers: The National Summit on Multiple casualty Shootings, Progress Report on the President’s Executive Actions to Help Reduce Gun Violence, The Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) and Active Shooter Web Portal
- Active Shooter Training Provided by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC)
- Active Shooter: What You Can Do Course
- Active Shooter Webinar
- Active Shooter Workshop Series
- Active Shooter: How to Respond Resource Materials
- Options for Consideration Active Shooter Preparedness Video
- Conducting Security Assessments: A Guide for Schools and Houses of Worship Webinar
- U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Active Shooter Related Research
THE ODDS OF A BUSINESS SURVIVING A DISASTER
SBA - Planning for Disasters in Advance
Small business owners invest a tremendous amount of time, money and resources to make their ventures successful, yet, many owners fail to properly plan and prepare for disaster situations. According to the Institute for Business and Home Safety, an estimated 25 percent of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster. You can protect your business by identifying the risks associated with natural and man-made disasters, and by creating a plan for action should a disaster strike. By keeping those plans updated, you can help ensure the survival of your business. SBA Business & Disaster Webpage
SBA - Emergency Preparedness Resources
The resources below can help you develop a plan to protect your employees, lessen the financial impact of disasters, and re-open your business quickly to support economic recovery in your community.
If you need disaster assistance immediately, visit our Disaster Assistance page.
Resources listed courtesy of:
General Preparedness Information
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES FOR DISASTER PLANNING & RESPONSE
City of Los Angeles - Emergency Management Department
With approximately 4 million residents and 400,000 business firms, the City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department (EMD) has the enormous task of planning and preparing all City departments, residents and businesses for man-made and natural emergencies, as well as coordinating subsequent response, recovery and mitigation efforts. We work to resolve the challenges in emergency management. Our goals are designed to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).
Los Angeles Emergency Management Department (EMD) Operations Links...
NotifyLA
NotifyLA is the City of Los Angeles' official mass notification system used to send voice messages, text messages and email messages to residents and businesses during times of emergencies and disasters. Notifying the public when a disaster strikes might be the one and only safeguard the public can count on to save their lives and protect their property. It's easy to get started. Just fill in your information below.
Website here...
County of Los Angeles - Office of Emergency Management
The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has the responsibility for organizing and directing the preparedness efforts of the Emergency Management Organization of Los Angeles County. OEM is the day-to-day Los Angeles County Operational Area coordinator for the entire geographic area of the county. This broad responsibility includes:
Planning and Coordination * Operations • Training • Technical Operations • Public Education
Planning & Coordination Includes:
Maintaining an approved Operational Area Emergency Response Plan • Providing ongoing leadership and coordinating disaster plans and exercises with the 88 cities, 137 unincorporated communities and 288 special districts in the county • Assisting County departments to develop department emergency plans which address how they will perform both their non-deferrable missions and Operational Area duties during disasters • Assisting County departments with development of facility emergency plans for every occupied County facility • Supporting and advising the Board of Supervisors, Emergency Management Council and Emergency Preparedness Commission • Supporting and advising the Board of Supervisors in matters pertaining to their role as elected officials during emergencies and disasters.
Cal OES - Governor's Office of Emergency Services
For Businesses & Organizations - one of 27 divisions of Cal OES
Businesses can do much to prepare for the impact of the many hazards they face in today's world including natural hazards like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and widespread serious illness such as the H1N1 flu virus pandemic. Human-caused hazards include accidents, acts of violence by people and acts of terrorism. Examples of technology-related hazards are the failure or malfunction of systems, equipment or software.
If you are not sure whether your property or business is at risk from a disaster caused natural hazards, be sure to check the MyHazards website.
CAL OES - California State Threat Assessment System
Protecting society through shared information and communication
The State Threat Assessment System (STAS) helps safeguard the communities of California by serving as a dynamic security nexus comprised of the State, four Regional and a major urban area Fusion Center. The STAS assists in the detection, prevention, investigation and response to criminal and terrorist activity, disseminates intelligence and facilitates communications between state, local, federal, tribal agencies and private sector partners, to help them take action on threats and public safety issues. The STAS is a key component of California's Homeland Security Strategy.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE REALITIES
Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2016
Southern California’s smaller cities and large businesses must take the threat of a crippling earthquake far more seriously than they have been, a committee of business, public policy and utility leaders said Thursday, saying action is needed to “prevent the inevitable disaster from becoming a catastrophe.”
Despite strides made by the city of Los Angeles to focus on earthquake safety, Southern California still faces significant threats that haven’t been resolved.
One of the most ominous is the looming threat on the edge of Southern California’s sprawling metropolis — the Cajon Pass. It’s a narrow mountain pass where the San Andreas fault — California’s longest and one of its most dangerous — intersects with combustible natural gas and petroleum pipelines, electrical transmission lines, train tracks and Interstate 15 north of San Bernardino.
Earthquake Country Alliance
The Earthquake Country Alliance (ECA) is a public-private partnership of people, organizations, and regional alliances that work together to improve preparedness, mitigation and resiliency.
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program
The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), established by Congress in 1977. We monitor and report earthquakes, assess earthquake impacts and hazards, and research the causes and effects of earthquakes.
Facts, Fiction, & Friction: The Threat of Earthquakes in the U.S
March 30, 2016 "Larry King Now" Interview With Lucy Jones
“We are absolutely at risk. Plate tectonics goes on here in California. We are sitting on a plate boundary. We have to have an earthquake the size of Northridge every decade or so on average....People are afraid of dying by the earthquake, but you should really be more afraid of being bankrupted by the earthquake. Eighteen hundred dead but 213 billion dollars in losses was our estimate when we worked it all out for this. 300,000 buildings lose more than ten percent their value.”
BICEPP wishes Dr. Jones well in her expected very busy retirement....
San Andreas fault 'locked, loaded and ready to roll' with big earthquake, expert says....
The San Andreas fault is one of California’s most dangerous, and is the state’s longest fault. Yet for Southern California, the last big earthquake to strike the southern San Andreas was in 1857, when a magnitude 7.9 earthquake ruptured an astonishing 185 miles between Monterey County and the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles. It has been quiet since then — too quiet, said Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center.
California quake warning system could start sending public alerts by 2018 - Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2016
In a major reversal, Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking state funds for a fledgling earthquake early warning system for California, which would allow for a limited rollout of alerts by 2018.
A limited rollout of the system in two years would mean that places such as classrooms, offices, shopping malls, amusement parks and police and fire stations could have ready access to alerts that would give seconds, and perhaps more than a minute, of warning before strong shaking comes in a big earthquake. LA Times graphic of how the system works.