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What does an emergency preparedness specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read

Emergency Preparedness Specialist slows a person to use their abilities, create plans and procedures to help save a population from harm or any emergency. When a disaster, outbreak, or accident occurs, an emergency preparedness specialist considers all factors in developing emergency plans that will help individuals get out of harm's way. Excellent thinking skills, strategic planning abilities and problem-solving skills, excellent communication skills, and the ability to make decisions quickly as disasters change and develop are the skills needed to be an emergency specialist.

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Emergency preparedness specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real emergency preparedness specialist resumes:

  • Identify facilities and personnel resources within the state to achieve rapid effective dispensing of SNS.
  • Develop and revise comprehensive, NIMS compliant plans.
  • Train staff on new and emerging HAZMAT trends and tasks.
  • Conduct detailed EPA reports, labor, equipment cost/rental and recommendations.
  • Lead instructor and assistant instructor duties various specialize training programs relating to HazMat and CBRNE.
  • Coordinate multiple boom deployment exercises with clients to ensure state and OSRO requirements are meet.
  • Double TOS copay collections by educating staff about insurance eligibility, copay interpretation and patients about their responsibility.
  • Deploy to FAC for disaster hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
  • Process applicantions of 20K + AMR employees for designate roles of deployment.
  • Assign to WMD response team.

Emergency preparedness specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 15% of Emergency Preparedness Specialists are proficient in Emergency Preparedness, Public Health, and Emergency Operations.

We break down the percentage of Emergency Preparedness Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Emergency Preparedness, 15%

    Lead in the design and implementation of facility emergency preparedness program in accordance with federal regulations and guidelines.

  • Public Health, 8%

    Develop and implement plans and procedures related to the County Public Health's response to all hazards and emergencies.

  • Emergency Operations, 6%

    Evaluate emergency operations and exercises, providing feedback and corrective actions for improvement.

  • Emergency Management, 6%

    Perform emergency management-related technical evaluations and analyses.

  • Incident Management, 6%

    Represented Department's interests to all National Response Plan/Framework, Homeland Security Presidential Directive, National Incident Management System deliberations.

  • Incident Command System, 6%

    HAMMER instructor (Incident Command System, Building Emergency Director, and Building Warden).

"emergency preparedness," "public health," and "emergency operations" are among the most common skills that emergency preparedness specialists use at work. You can find even more emergency preparedness specialist responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for an emergency preparedness specialist to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "emergency management directors must be able to clearly convey their emergency preparedness plans, both orally and in writing, to a variety of audiences." Additionally, an emergency preparedness specialist resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "developed and executed communication and marketing plans for health/safety and emergency preparedness programs. "

Leadership skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling emergency preparedness specialist duties is leadership skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "to ensure effective responses to emergencies, emergency management directors need to organize and train a variety of people." According to an emergency preparedness specialist resume, here's how emergency preparedness specialists can utilize leadership skills in their job responsibilities: "provide leadership, technical expertise, and consultation through direct involvement to identify and resolve emergency response program issues. "

All emergency preparedness specialist skills

Compare different emergency preparedness specialists

Emergency preparedness specialist vs. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officer

If we compare the average emergency preparedness specialist annual salary with that of a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officer, we find that chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officers typically earn a $8,070 lower salary than emergency preparedness specialists make annually.Even though emergency preparedness specialists and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officers are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require hazardous materials, dod, and fema in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, emergency preparedness specialist responsibilities require skills like "emergency preparedness," "public health," "emergency operations," and "emergency management." Meanwhile a typical chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officer has skills in areas such as "decontamination procedures," "logistics," "cbrn," and "nco." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

On average, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officers reach similar levels of education than emergency preparedness specialists. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear officers are 2.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Emergency preparedness specialist vs. Hazard mitigation officer

On average, hazard mitigation officers earn a $14,449 higher salary than emergency preparedness specialists a year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both emergency preparedness specialists and hazard mitigation officers have skills such as "emergency operations," "hazardous materials," and "technical assistance. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, emergency preparedness specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "emergency preparedness," "public health," "emergency management," and "incident management." Meanwhile, a hazard mitigation officer has duties that require skills in areas such as "foreclosure," "provide technical assistance," "loan modifications," and "mortgage loans." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

In general, hazard mitigation officers achieve similar levels of education than emergency preparedness specialists. They're 2.8% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Emergency preparedness specialist vs. Director of civil defense

An average director of civil defense eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of emergency preparedness specialists. The difference in salaries amounts to directors of civil defense earning a $43,861 higher average salary than emergency preparedness specialists.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from emergency preparedness specialist resumes include skills like "emergency preparedness," "public health," "emergency operations," and "emergency management," whereas a director of civil defense is more likely to list skills in "aerospace," "mediation," "strategic plan," and "policy development. "

Most directors of civil defense achieve a higher degree level compared to emergency preparedness specialists. For example, they're 12.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 9.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Emergency preparedness specialist vs. Co-owner & director

Co-owner & directors average a higher salary than the annual salary of emergency preparedness specialists. The difference is about $19,399 per year.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. An emergency preparedness specialist uses "emergency preparedness," "public health," "emergency operations," and "emergency management." Co-owner & directors are more likely to have duties that require skills in "financial statements," "payroll," "human resources," and "child care. "The average resume of co-owner & directors showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to emergency preparedness specialists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.

Types of emergency preparedness specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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