Sonoma County Grand Jury
• 2007-2008
Sonoma County Employees – Waiting to Be Trained for Disaster*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 12 findings
F1
Emergency preparedness, First Aid, Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training is not consistent for all Disaster Service Workers throughout the governmental entities1 of Sonoma County.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
- All Sonoma County employees should receive emergency preparedness training with annual updates/refresher.
R2
– All Sonoma County employees should be provided the opportunity for First Aid, CPR, and AED training.
F2
Sonoma County employees, who are not first responders, want to attend Emergency and Disaster type training such as First Aid, CPR, AED, Emergency Preparedness, etc.
No recommendations for this finding
F3
Some Sonoma County employees, who are not first responders, have completed training on their own, such as First Aid and CPR.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Sonoma County employees, who are not first responders, have expressed an interest to participate in and/or observe emergency/disaster drills and exercises as part of their training.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
Sonoma County employees, who are not first responders, are willing to provide assistance during an emergency and disaster event.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
All county employees must complete the National Incident Management System (NIMS) course by the end of calendar year 2007. As of March 29, 2007, there were 349 county employees that have completed NIMS training. The 349 employees represent approximately 7% of the total county employees of 4,850. (Note: About 2 to 3% of the total number of employees include retirees and extra-help employees who remain in the payroll system.)
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
- Develop, implement, and monitor a strategy and plan that ensures all County Employees complete the National Incident Management System course by the end of calendar year 2007.
F7
New employees of Sonoma County receive emergency/disaster training during employee orientation.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
Ten percent of Homeland Security Grant Funds, are designated for emergency exercises and training.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
Specialized training is provided to county employees to accomplish unique assignments during emergencies/disasters. For example, architects are trained to evaluate structural integrity of buildings to determine if access and occupancy is safe.
No recommendations for this finding
F10
Some county employees were not aware of their role during a disaster, unsure when and where to report during a disaster, and how to contact management for instructions and assignments if normal communication facilities were down and/or overloaded.
Related Recommendations (3)
R3
- On an annual basis ensure that all county employees know their assigned duties, reporting locations, and contact methods during an emergency and disaster event.
R5
– On an annual basis ensure that Department Heads, Agency Chairperson, and upper level managers of all Sonoma County entities fully participate in emergency/disaster training and the exercises/drills.
R6
- All Sonoma County employees should be made aware of how to contact management if normal communication facilities are down or overloaded. Required responses to Findings None Requested responses to Recommendations None Required responses to Recommendations Board of Supervisors – R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6 Sonoma County Department of Emergency Services - R4
F11
When a disaster does occur some county employees are needed to "keep the doors open" for the county government to continue serving its employees and the public.
No recommendations for this finding
F12
County employees want to be able to provide assistance to the public during emergencies but lack basic disaster training in First Aid, CPR, AED, emergency preparedness etc. Entities refer to Sonoma County departments, agencies, commissions, committees, services, grand juries, etc. where county employees are assigned. Conclusions Given the potential for a disastrous event of some kind in Sonoma County, the grand jury considers the county's innate responsibility for providing its citizens with emergency, medical and logistical services to be of utmost importance and priority. The functional implementation of such services is daunting, indeed. This sense of how overwhelming this task would be is what makes the necessity of dedicated, diligent and disciplined preparation on the part of Sonoma County and its cities ever more essential and urgent. The Department of Emergency Services has worked steadfastly in obtaining grant monies, making information available and providing guidance to all entities in the county. The notion that emergency preparedness plans and procedures exist is a necessary step in the process but, in fact, it is merely the beginning. The myriad of other county workers who are required to aid and reinforce in emergencies will also be central for other non-essential support services. These employees may prove to be just as vital as first responders when it comes to serving as liaisons to the community, whether that be the elderly, office workers, properly prepared families or those who inherently crater under the weight of the situation. All county citizens will need leadership and accurate information from emergency agencies in order to survive and reconstruct their family lives. We will count heavily on county employees to be available and knowledgeable about communication and other pivotal issues. The fact that employees of Sonoma County express an eagerness to assist the public during emergencies and are willing to spend the time and effort to attend training classes and participate in practice sessions is a positive and contributing step in the right direction. However, as of March 2007, close to 93% of the employees of Sonoma County had not completed their mandatory NIMS training. This is not a good indicator of diligent preparation. It will be another daunting challenge to have all employees trained by December as the Emergency Plan suggests. The jury concludes that desire and intent are not enough. Sonoma County upper level managers need to lead by example to obtain training, actively participating in exercises and drills, working to create a sense of urgency in times of tranquility and routine and making management calendars and budgets work to include valuable time for training and preparation courses for all Sonoma County employees. A specific and bona fide timetable for employee training and regular, programmatic updates needs to be established and adhered to or all the best intentions of the world could turn to ashes. Commendations The Sonoma County Grand Jury would like to thank those Sonoma County employees who assisted in providing valuable information toward this report. The Sonoma County Grand Jury was impressed with the quality and skills of county employees, and their willingness to assist the public during emergency and non-emergency periods. The Sonoma County Grand Jury found that the manager and staff of the Emergency Management Division of the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Services were professional, very knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful.
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 4Given the potential for a disastrous event of some kind in Sonoma County, the grand jury considers the county's innate responsibility for providing its citizens with emergency, medical and logistical services to be of utmost importance and priority. The functional implementation of such services is daunting, indeed. This sense of how overwhelming this task would be is what makes the necessity of dedicated, diligent and disciplined preparation on the part of Sonoma County and its cities ever more essential and urgent. The Department of Emergency Services has worked steadfastly in obtaining grant monies, making information available and providing guidance to all entities in the county. The notion that emergency preparedness plans and procedures exist is a necessary step in the process but, in fact, it is merely the beginning. The myriad of other county workers who are required to aid and reinforce in emergencies will also be central for other non-essential support services. These employees may prove to be just as vital as first responders when it comes to serving as liaisons to the community, whether that be the elderly, office workers, properly prepared families or those who inherently crater under the weight of the situation. All county citizens will need leadership and accurate information from emergency agencies in order to survive and reconstruct their family lives. We will count heavily on county employees to be available and knowledgeable about communication and other pivotal issues. The fact that employees of Sonoma County express an eagerness to assist the public during emergencies and are willing to spend the time and effort to attend training classes and participate in practice sessions is a positive and contributing step in the right direction. However, as of March 2007, close to 93% of the employees of Sonoma County had not completed their mandatory NIMS training. This is not a good indicator of diligent preparation. It will be another daunting challenge to have all employees trained by December as the Emergency Plan suggests. The jury concludes that desire and intent are not enough. Sonoma County upper level managers need to lead by example to obtain training, actively participating in exercises and drills, working to create a sense of urgency in times of tranquility and routine and making management calendars and budgets work to include valuable time for training and preparation courses for all Sonoma County employees. A specific and bona fide timetable for employee training and regular, programmatic updates needs to be established and adhered to or all the best intentions of the world could turn to ashes. 21
Commendations 1
-
CM1 Page 5The Sonoma County Grand Jury would like to thank those Sonoma County employees who assisted in providing valuable information toward this report. The Sonoma County Grand Jury was impressed with the quality and skills of county employees, and their willingness to assist the public during emergency and non-emergency periods. The Sonoma County Grand Jury found that the manager and staff of the Emergency Management Division of the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Services were professional, very knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful.
No Responses Found 2
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office
Sonoma County Sheriff
Elected County Office
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.