Media release: Mohawk College helping municipalities and employers respond to emergencies

HAMILTON, ON (Jan. 28, 2014) - Mohawk College has launched a course to help Canadian municipalities and employers set up, staff and run emergency operations centres as well as manage large scale emergency scenes.

Mohawk’s new Emergency Operations Centre Management and Emergency Site Management certification course delivers four days of hands-on training to first responders, emergency workers and response teams.

“When disaster strikes, you need to immediately bring people together from different departments and organizations to get a handle on the situation, make decisions and coordinate a response,” says Michael Pearson, Advanced Security Management Program Coordinator with Mohawk College. “Every municipality and employer needs an emergency operations centre where roles are assigned and responsibilities are clear. In a crisis when lives and reputations are on the line and every second counts, you absolutely need to know who’s doing what and how you’re going to respond and recover.”

The new course will be similar to one previously offered by the federal government’s Canadian Emergency Management College, incorporating the latest best practices and the newest technologies and ways of communicating in a crisis.

The course is being delivered in Mohawk’s new and fully functional emergency operations centre at its Fennell Campus in Hamilton, Ontario. The emergency operations centre is one of the latest additions to Mohawk’s $80 million campus renewal project. Mohawk is believed to be the only college in Canada to offer both tactical and simulated judgemental training systems to students, industry and community partners.

“At Mohawk College, we believe our students and partners learn best by doing,” says Associate Dean Jo-Anne Procter who helped develop the course with faculty and municipal emergency managers. “We’ve developed our new Emergency Operations Centre Management and Emergency Site Management course to deliver scenario-based training that simulates disasters and crises in real-time. This is intensive and interactive training for professionals entrusted with safeguarding our communities and workplaces.”

While the week-long Emergency Operations Centre Management and Emergency Site Management course will initially be offered at Mohawk’s Fennell Campus on February 24-27, 2014, the course development team is preparing to deliver the training across Canada.

For more information, contact Gina Cliffe, Justice and Wellness faculty by email at gina.cliffe@mohawkcollege.ca.

To register, please contact Elizabeth Roediger at 905.577.5886 or email eroediger@mcecor.com