Emergency management planning on institutions of higher education (IHE): To provide research based recommendations from other cultural contexts

The aim of the presentation is to outline the findings of a desktop study of written emergency plans from seven Danish institutions of higher education. It is especially emergency plans concerning preventing for, responding to and recovering from threats of violent attacks and attacks that is of concern. The objective of the analyses is to characterize and assess the current state of written plans in this area, though even more important to discuss how public institutions’ work with plans can be qualified through inspiration from international research and still pay respect to Danish context and culture.
In Denmark, there is no strong regulation or requirements and only a few superior laws to follow for public institutions when it comes to how to work with emergency management plans. In fact, both public and private institutions in Denmark are beginning to ask for more specific guidelines and consultancy in order to plan for unexpected events.
A preliminary finding is that the practices for planning varies to a large degree both concerning the intensity of details, since some institution work with very comprehensive plans and others hold brief and very short plans. Another interesting result is that institutions tend to be quite specific on operational procedures but less precise on dimensions concerning crisis management on the strategic level.
A final result is an identification of dissimilarities in the ways that the plans are addressed to the different groups of actors in the institutions of higher education. Research stress the importance of addressing all parts and members of an organization in emergency planning, though there is a significant variety in how this is done.
The study is the first part of a broader study of institutions’ work with emergency management concerning the development of a risk management practice in the Danish public sector, taken its point of departure in the sector of higher education. One overall aim of the study is to investigate how researchers and representatives from institutions in the sector can co-produce policies, best practices and guidelines in matters of emergency management.