Prestigious Award Given To Howard County's Emergency Program

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Howard County’s Office of Emergency Management took home the prestigious 2022 Project of the Year award from the Maryland Emergency Management Association for its on call emergency manager and emergency operation center manager training and certification program.

"This award-winning program is a critical tool to ensure all our OEM staff are well prepared and ready to respond when disaster strikes. We’re grateful to have such a forward-thinking team in Howard County to implement this training and keep our community safe in any kind of emergency," Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said.

The Howard County OCEM/EOC manager training and certification program is the only formalized program of its kind at the local level in the state of Maryland to provide an innovative, more holistic knowledge and skill development base for future emergency managers.

"Howard County faces a multitude of hazards. Training our staff to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful when responding to those varied hazards is of the utmost importance. This program is an innovative way to ensure a thorough understanding of all critical functions of emergency management here in Howard County. This program instills the confidence and familiarity required for swift and effective emergency response," OCEM Director Michael Hinson said.

The program is designed to familiarize participants with important general emergency management knowledge through multiple trainings, plan review, role review and expectations from OEM leadership, resource review, physical and virtual emergency operations center and alternate emergency operations center set-up and training, tours of the county, vulnerable areas review, alert and warning training, a workshop and tabletop exercise, and more.

Once staff complete the training, they take a comprehensive exam and prepare a mock presentation. Once the program is completed, staff members then are paired with senior on-call mangers for their first emergency operations center activations. All current office of emergency management staff have successfully completed the program.