The Emergency Management Program

The city's Emergency Management Program is responsible for developing and implementing mitigation, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery initiatives to enhance the city's disaster resiliency.

Key responsibilities of the program include:

• Identifying major risks and critical infrastructure within the city
• Developing and maintaining emergency plans and procedures including the City of Hamilton Emergency Plan
• Ensuring staff are ready to respond to emergencies through plan development, annual training and emergency exercises
• Maintaining and testing two emergency operations centres (EOCs) to centralize response, communications, and coordination efforts in the event of an emergency
• Develop mitigation, prevention and recovery strategies
• Promote public education and awareness

The city's Emergency Management Program also coordinates and plans with community partner agencies for emergency preparedness. The program chairs the Emergency Preparedness Advisory Commitee consisting of representatives including City of Hamilton departments, school boards, hospitals, Hamilton Port Authority, McMaster University, Mohawk College, and Hamilton International Airport.

In addition, we are actively involved in Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) that coordinates emergency planning efforts with local industry.