Loyola University Chicago

Environmental Services

Emergency Response vs. Business Continuity Plans

Emergency response plans are developed for coordinating university departments' response to specific types of incidents. The plans and responses are tactical in nature, in that the majority of the incidents will last a very short period of time and are brought under control rather quickly. A more serious incident may require a response from university departments which can last two or three days and may involve outside agencies such as local fire and police. The emergency response plan takes into consideration these possibilities and emergency housing and food provisions are in place to address these types of issues. Emergency response plans addresses the incident and the time period immediately after the incident in order to return critical university operations to a minimum level.

Business Continuity plans on the other hand are strategic in nature and are concerned with returning the university to full normal operations as soon as possible after an incident. This type of plan addresses the aftermath of a critical incident and ensures the university is in a position to continue to operate and sustain long term recovery. The plan must address the loss of productivity and any physical damage resulting from an incident while normal services and operations are being restored. While departments such as Facilities, Campus Safety and Student Affairs components will normally be the lead departments in a critical incident response, Academic Affairs, Finance, Facilities Management, Risk Management, Government Relations and Information Services are the university offices most often responsible for carrying out the aspects of the Business Continuity plan.

The I.S. Department and Financial Affairs Division as well as other departments and divisions have in place Business Continuity Plans that ensure the university will return to normal operations as quickly as possible, should an incident impact the university community. The President's Office will provide updates to the Loyola University Chicago community at: http://www.luc.edu/emergency/ Parents of Loyola University Chicago students can also go to http://www.luc.edu/parents/ for additional information.