University Plans

The VCU Division of Emergency Management is responsible for meeting planning requirements established by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM). In the event of hazards that pose a threat to our community, these plans ensure VCU is prepared to respond, mitigate and recover. Descriptions of the plans, maintained by the VCU Department of Emergency Management, are listed below. Due to the sensitive nature of the CEMP, COOP and HMP, these plans are not immediately accessible to the public. For any questions about these plans, please contact EmergencyMGMT@vcu.edu.

Crisis and Emergency Management Plan (CEMP)

The CEMP creates a flexible, scalable, all-hazards framework for the coordination of the university’s effort in assisting impacted people, physical assets and operations on campus. This plan is structured following guidelines from the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and National Response Framework (NRF) and provides flexibility to adapt to different disruptive events. CEMP lays out best practices for interacting with local and state entities to coordinate large-scale, multijurisdictional responses. The succession of events during a disruptive incident are not predictable; therefore, this plan serves as a basic framework. It may require changes to meet the challenges of each emergency.

The CEMP guides the decision making of the VCU Incident Coordination Team (ICT). The ICT is comprised of representatives from across the university. By bringing resources and authority to a centrally coordinated team, the ICT focuses on tactical implementation and strategic decision making. Their overall mission is to centralize coordination of the university’s crisis response and recovery efforts.

Companion documents to the CEMP include, but are not limited to, the VCU Hazard Mitigation Plan and the VCU Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP). Both are distinct, complementary plans that provide a foundation for VCU’s approach to Emergency Management.

Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)

VCU utilizes continuity plans to ensure its operations are performed with minimal disruption during all-hazards emergencies or other situations that disrupt normal operations. This document provides planning and program guidance for implementing the COOP and Continuity Program to ensure the university is capable of conducting its mission essential functions (MEFs) under all threats and conditions. The university is committed to the safety and protection of its students, staff, faculty, visitors, operations and facilities.

This Continuity Plan is a recovery plan and a companion plan to the CEMP. It provides a framework to minimize potential impact and allows for rapid recovery from an incident that disrupts operations. Developed through a formal planning process involving agency stakeholders, this plan addresses both VCU’s operations and services. It is compliant with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) Continuity Plan Template and Commonwealth of Virginia Executive Order #41 (2019).

Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP)

Disasters can impact the entire VCU academic campus in many ways, including loss of life, damage to infrastructure and interruption of daily operations for days, weeks or months. In addition, interruptions to research activities can cause a loss of revenue and future funding. VCU and VCU Medical Center are co-located and share numerous resources. However, this plan’s mitigation strategies focus on VCU. Every precaution was considered as not to interfere or contradict any VCU Health Joint Commission goals or mitigation strategies.

Disasters, if severe enough, may lead to students or faculty leaving the institution, causing a loss of educational continuity while having devastating consequences to social and environmental well-being. In addition, an increase in insurance premiums resulting from such disasters can lead to economic hardship for the university.

Hazard mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disaster; in other words, keeping hazards from becoming disasters. Hazard mitigation is best accomplished based on a comprehensive, long-term plan developed before a disaster strikes. Mitigation planning is the process used to understand risks from natural, human-caused and technological hazards, in order to develop long-term strategies that reduce the impacts of future events on people, property and the environment.

This plan represents the first in a series of proactive steps taken by VCU to reduce the impact of disasters and to avoid future losses and disruption. Although the plan's focus is on hazard risk reduction, the plan also addresses some aspects of disaster preparedness, response and recovery. These elements can enhance or hinder the eventual success of the plan itself. In addition, this plan will help the university make wise decisions on land use, development and renovation of existing facilities.

This plan also attempts to incorporate stakeholder and public feedback to identify mitigation actions, effectively allocate resources to reduce risks, increase awareness and align risk reduction with university policies and priorities.

Campus Emergency Action Plan (CEAP)

The purpose of the VCU Campus Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) is to inform the VCU community of initial steps to take in the unlikely event of an emergency. The CEAP will allow community members to ensure their safety during a multitude of hazards that have the potential to affect VCU. This plan contains generalized steps to take during listed hazards applicable throughout campus; however, it should be noted that individual buildings across campus have more detailed EAP’s developed through the VCU Office of Safety & Risk Management. Those plans contain more specific steps to take for particular emergencies (evacuation routes, specific in building shelter locations, etc.). The VCU CEAP is to be used during an emergency as a frame of reference for those who do not have building specific plans, are outside during an emergency or are unable to access building specific plans. It should be noted that this plan is not intended to replace those procedures identified in building plans, rather to supplement them. While this plan will not cover all potential hazards to the VCU community, it will cover response procedures for those that are more likely to occur.

VCU Campus Emergency Action Plan