Department Emergency Coordinators (DEC)

Each department head appoints a DEC, who is responsible for developing and maintaining the department emergency plan, coordinating the department’s emergency response activities with the Chief Administrative Office’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), coordinating training, and maintaining the Building Emergency Coordinator (BEC) positions within the department. The department head will also designates a back-up to the DEC, known as the Alternate DEC, to perform the duties described above for the DEC in the absence of the DEC.

Information about preparing department emergency plans is available in the Department Plans Guidelines. Other documents and information can be found in the Documents Library.

Building Emergency Coordinator Program (BEC)

The BEC program provides for both the safety of County employees and the public in County facilities. BEC emergency preparedness and response activities assist in ensuring the continuation of governmental services in County facilities following a disaster. The program focuses upon developing a “building specific” plan for each County facility with 10 or more staff. Currently there are more than 3,100 BECs in Los Angeles County. Each qualifying County facility has a BEC, an assistant BEC, and an alternate BEC.

The BEC has the responsibility for establishing and maintaining a building emergency plan for each County facility. The building emergency plan contains essential information for responding to an emergency situation; building floor plans, after-hours contact roster, vendor/utilities contacts, multi-hazard threat response procedures, and the County’s building closure policy. The BEC also selects and trains an emergency response team (ERT) whose task it is to assist in the activities that comprise the building emergency plan. The BEC is responsible for obtaining approval for the facility’s building emergency plan from the local fire department. The BEC also conducts annual fire evacuation, and duck, cover, and hold drills in each County facility. The Department Emergency Coordinator (DEC) manages the BEC. The BEC program is coordinated by the County Office of Emergency Management (OEM).