Emergency Response and Business Continuity Plans | NorthWest Arkansas Community College

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Emergency Response and Business Continuity Plans


Emergency response plans are developed for coordinating NWACC departments' response to specific types of incidents. The plans and responses are tactical in nature, in that the majority of the incidents will last a very short period of time and are brought under control rather quickly. A more serious incident may require a response from NWACC departments which can last two or three days and may involve outside agencies such as local fire and police. The emergency response plan takes into consideration these possibilities and processes are in place to address these types of issues. Emergency response plans addresses the incident and the time period immediately after the incident in order to return critical college operations to a minimum level.

View the quick links below to access NWACC's emergency handbooks with plans and procedures. 

Business Continuity plans on the other hand are strategic in nature and are concerned with returning the college to full normal operations as soon as possible after an incident. This type of plan addresses the aftermath of a critical incident and ensures NWACC is able to continue to operate and sustain long term recovery. The plan must address the loss of productivity and any physical damage resulting from an incident while normal services and operations are being restored. While departments such as Facilities, DPS and Student Affairs components will normally be the lead departments in a critical incident response, Academic Affairs, Finance, Facilities Management, Risk Management, Government Relations and IT are the areas most often responsible for carrying out the aspects of the Business Continuity plan.

Other departments and divisions have in place business continuity plans that ensure the college will return to normal operations as quickly as possible, should an incident impact the NWACC community.

Questions? Email Risk Management at prc@nwacc.edu.