| I. POLICY STATEMENT
| | To outline the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH/Department) personnel policies for disaster response and ensure that DMH employees provide supplemental support to DMH, other County departments, as well as other organizations responsible for performing necessary emergency response duties prior to, during, and after a disaster.
| | II. DEFINITIONS
| | Department Emergency Coordinator (DEC): Each County department is required to appoint a DEC and alternate DEC. Department DEC and Alternate DEC positions must be management-level staff with sufficient authority to commit the department to a course of action during a disaster. The DEC and Alternate DEC serve as 24/7 points of contact for the Department for emergencies and disasters.
Disaster Services: All activities authorized by or carried out pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act following disasters and emergencies.
Disaster Service Worker (DSW): A volunteer or public employee who provides assistance and service to the community in times of crisis. All public employees, including all persons employed by a county, city, state, or public agency (including affiliated volunteers) who are United States (U.S.) citizens are designated as DSWs.
Disaster Service Worker Program (DSWP): A program that requires all public employees to perform DSW duties following disasters and emergencies in accordance with the California Emergency services Act.
Office of Emergency Management (OEM): County office under the County Chief Executive Office (CEO) that has the responsibility of comprehensively planning for, responding to, and recovering from large-scale emergencies and disasters in Los Angeles County. OEM is responsible to establish and promulgate clear and specific personnel procedures for the County DSWP to ensure that personnel are properly compensated and covered against personal liability while responding to any disaster situation requiring activation of Department or County disaster plans.
| | III. POLICY
| | In times of disasters and public health emergencies, all County public employees, including all DMH employees who are U.S. citizens, are required to serve as DSWs. Public employees (including DMH employees) that are legal aliens and permanent residents (non-U.S. citizens) are not eligible to serve as DSWs, but are expected to report to work and perform County duties as assigned by the department.
Following a disaster, the County Department of Human Resources (DHR), under the direction of CEO/OEM, will contact County departments (including DMH) to request staff to provide disaster services as part of the County’s disaster response. DMH will coordinate the activation and assignment of DMH staff and ensure that DSW policies and procedures issued by OEM are maintained.
The DMH DEC shall be responsible for notifying the department of any changes or updates to the DSWP and ensuring that any relevant DMH policies, plans, and/or procedures are updated.
All DMH employees are expected to review and sign the County of Los Angeles Disaster Service Worker Annual Acknowledgement Form as part of their Annual Report of Performance Evaluation.
As of April 12, 2018, all County employees are required to take the Disaster Services Worker Awareness training, a one-time, 30-minute online course through the County Learning Net to be informed of their DSW obligations under the California Emergency Services Act.
| | IV. PROCEDURES
| | No procedures are associated with this policy.
| | V. AUTHORITIES
| | | | VI. ATTACHMENTS
| Annual Report of Performance Evaluation page 35, County of Los Angeles Disaster Service Worker Annual Acknowledgement Form
County of Los Angeles Disaster Services Worker Pamphlet | |
|
