THE LANGUAGE OF PREPAREDNESSLanguage Barriers in BC/DR

Jim Sharp, PCP -Vice President & Chief Training Officer

My thanks to Shawnee McDonough and everyone in the MCPF leadership for inviting me and for arranging today’s presentation.

Also, I certainly appreciate World Wide Technology, Inc. making their personnel, facilities and equipment available.

Thank all of you for being here!

THANK YOU!

TODAY’S AGENDA

Why We’re Here What We’ll Cover

Workforce diversification and its effect on emergency preparedness and response

Real-world examples: best practices and other practices

Ways to identify and overcome language barriers

Challenges posed to continuity of operations

Language barriers in schools Language barriers and first

responders Critical Crisis

Communications Criteria Be RIGHT Be FIRST Be COMPETENT Be CONSISTENT Be CREDIBLE Show COMMONALITY

Emergency Notification Systems

Questions for discussion

TORNADO!Let’s set the stage . . .

37 States reported increases

Pennsylvania – 43.96%Missouri – 76.58%Kentucky – 83.67%

Delaware – 102.38%Arkansas – 107.69%Kansas – 128.80%

North Dakota – 215.74%South Carolina – 422.11%

National Center for Education Statistics

ELL/LEP . . . 2002-2003 through 2011-2012

121 Warning Forecast Offices

800 Individual Transmitters

Coachella, CA

El Paso, TXHarlingen, TX

Pharr, TXHialeah, FL

NOAANational Weather Service

1990 – 2000: More than half the growth of the entire U.S. civilian workforce was attributable to immigrants.

Projected that, between 2016 and 2035, immigrants will account for all of our working-age population growth.

* 2006 National Association of Manufacturers Report

Workforce – by the numbers

Tactically: On-duty StaffOff-duty Staff & Families of On-duty StaffStakeholders: Customers, Shareholders, Regulatory Agencies, & Media

On-going Communications

First RespondersCAPSTONE-14

CREDIBILITY

Be RIGHT

Be FIRST

Be COMPETEN

T

Be CONSISTEN

T

Critical Crisis Communications Criteria

A Word About Consistency:The CDC and the Ebola Outbreak

Military members isolated for 21 days – no similar requirement for civilians returning from the outbreak area.

CDC acknowledges “porous borders” as one of the factors hindering the efforts to stop the spread of the epidemic, yet U.S. borders remain open.

ADDITIONALLY . . .

Be CLEAR Show COMMONALITY

Cut through the crap. Be brief, but not at the

expense of necessary information.

Say what you need to say. Say it in a way that

people outside your profession or organization will understand it.

“We’re all in this together” goes a long way, because we’re usually all in this together.

You and your stakeholders often face the same challenges and limitations.

Make sure your stakeholders (internal and external) know you are acting in their best interest.

THANK YOU!Let’s get to our questions for open

discussion.

Question #1:  Show of hands - who has a multi-lingual customer base, multi-lingual workforce, or both?

Questions for Discussion

Question #2:  What multi-lingual emergency preparedness, emergency response, or similar resources do you make available to your employees who may be less than proficient in English? 

How or in what format are those resources presented?

Questions for Discussion

Question #3:  From a BC/DR standpoint, how do you continue to support your organization's multi-lingual capabilities from an alternate or evacuation location?

Questions for Discussion

Question #4:  If you utilize an emergency notification system (ENS), what do you use and does it have multi-lingual capabilities?

Questions for Discussion