As we begin the month of October, we’re highlighting a foundational—but often overlooked—principle of emergency preparedness: the Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA), also known as a Risk Assessment.
Let’s be honest—who has an unlimited budget to mitigate every possible emergency? Most of us don’t have that golden ticket. That’s why, as Emergency Managers, we must be strategic in how we prepare for threats. The HVA is a powerful tool that helps us do just that.
Through a systematic process, the HVA identifies potential hazards that pose a threat to your organization and assesses their likelihood and impact. This allows you to prioritize resources, ensuring your budget is spent where it matters most. Beyond financial efficiency, the HVA also:
- Improves overall preparedness
- Enhances safety
- Supports regulatory compliance
- Promotes organizational resilience
We invite you to join us this month as we explore the basics of the HVA process, kicking off our CMS Exercise Series and helping develop our regional HVA.
📅 Webinar: Introduction to Hazard Vulnerability Analysis
🗓️ Thursday, October 2nd
🕙 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
This 1-hour session will provide foundational knowledge of the HVA and give you the opportunity to work through a template or update your organization’s existing document.
Next week, we’ll launch our regional HVA process, inviting your organization to share its HVA with SVHC. Together, we’ll build a comprehensive regional assessment to strengthen planning and preparedness across our community. Those details will be shared here next Tuesday, October 7th. In the meantime if you are wanting to learn more, please review the following documents for context:
