Emergency Preparedness Training and Exercises


Preparedness Training

KU Emergency Management provides general preparedness presentations for KU departments, organizations, or classes. Contact KU Emergency Management at emergencymgt@ku.edu or 785-864-5900 to request a presentation.

Topics for presentations can include:

  • Personal preparedness for emergencies and disasters
  • Emergency reporting
  • Building evacuation
  • Severe weather awareness
  • Emergency planning workshops
  • For First Aid and CPR certification courses, contact the Health Education Resource Office (HERO)

FEMA Incident Command System (ICS) Training

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides free online training for a variety of emergency management topics. Some university employees are required to complete certain Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) courses in accordance with their expected duties during an emergency.

For KU Emergency Operations Center staff, recommended training courses are:

IS-100.C: Introduction to the Incident Command System, ICS 100

IS-2200: Basic Emergency Operations Center Functions

 

To complete FEMA Independent Study Courses for Credit:

  1. FEMA Independent Study (IS) courses can be found at https://training.fema.gov/.
  2. Under the Independent Study tab, select the desired course.
    • Courses can also be found using the search bar at the top of the page.
  3. From the course overview page, select the link “Interactive Web Based Course” to launch the course (it will open a new tab or window).
    • You can complete the course in more than one sitting. It will not save your progress, but you can navigate to where you left off using the drop down menu at the top of the course.
  4. After completing the course, from the course overview page, select the link “Take Final Exam Online” (it will open a new tab or window).
  5. Enter your information and complete the exam.
  6. After passing the exam, FEMA will notify you via email with a link to access your certificate. If you do not pass the exam on the first try, you can retake it as many times as you need.
  7. Download your certificate and keep it in a file where you can easily access it.

The Kansas Division of Emergency Management (KDEM) and other state agencies utilize KS-TRAIN for in-state training registration and prerequisite verification. Go https://www.train.org/ks/welcome to view and register for training courses.

To register for in-person courses:

  1. Log in to KS-Train at https://www.train.org/ks/welcome
  2. In the search bar, search for the course number you are needing to take (G0300, G2300, etc.) and select the course.
  3. Find the session you want to attend and click “Get Approval”
  4. The host agency will review your KS Train profile for completed prerequisites, it will show as “Pending” on your profile.
  5. When the host agency has reviewed your registration, it will show as “In Progress” on KS Train, and you will receive an email with course information.

Exercises

The University of Kansas conducts preparedness exercises to test emergency plans and validate response and recovery capabilities. We engage with multiple stakeholders within the university and local partners to emphasize the whole community approach to disaster resiliency. KU Emergency management utilizes the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) framework to plan for and conduct exercises on the Lawrence campus. Following each exercise, KU Emergency Management supports the completion of an After Action Report and Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) to identify strengths, areas for improvement, and create a timeline for implementing corrective actions when needed.