Rapid Staffing for Emergency & Disaster Response

When an emergency situation arises, you want to turn to a qualified team of emergency management specialists instead of struggling to find someone in a pinch. Planning ahead for rapid response crisis staffing can help any organization from government agencies to emergency services to large companies respond better to changing situations.

Let’s examine what rapid response crisis staffing is and how to prepare ahead of any potential emergencies.

What is emergency or rapid response staffing?

We’ve all seen it on the news. Emergencies occur when we least expect them—a fire breaks out due to a lightning strike, or a storm floods a neighborhood, or another unexpected and dangerous situation emerges.

When these things happen, local employers and government services should have emergency hiring response plans in place to protect the safety of their workers, the integrity of their business, and the impact on customers and their community. These plans should inherently have affiliated rapid response staff that are deployed in times of crisis to oversee an organization’s response.

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Who are rapid responders?

When an emergency response plan is activated, rapid response staff are sent to respond to the disaster as part of an overall plan. These individuals are selected because of their background training in areas like healthcare, public services, law enforcement, or even the military. They have the skills to help mitigate the disaster and help the situation.

They use their expertise to provide skilled services based on the specific needs of the situation with a goal of maximizing help and minimizing harm to people and the community during an emergency. But not every situation that demands rapid response is a natural disaster—sometimes it’s bringing necessary skills to bear the face of extraordinary circumstances. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, the world saw rapid response staff in the form of travel nurses who were deployed to short-staffed healthcare facilities inundated with patients.

Rapid response staffing can range from short-term to long-term contracts depending on the needs of the situation and the expertise required. Individuals or teams may need to travel to an area, or, in larger metro areas, they may live nearby and be considered “on call” for any local emergencies that arise.

Some rapid responders will take on leadership roles for the emergency response plan, such as medical experts or immigration professionals, or experienced emergency management specialists may be brought in.

Steps to hire rapid response staff

Once you’ve identified the types of emergencies you need to prepare for and the teams you’ll need, the next step is often finding employees to fill those roles. For emergency responders, it’s important to find solutions that rapidly deliver a variety of skillsets, including things like direct care, case management, technology, engineering, immigration law, border security, construction, and facilities management.

When conducting screening for candidates, be sure to:

Consider a formal background check given how much they will interact with the public.
Screen for necessary credentials or medical requirements (such as requiring staff to be CPR certified).
Provide guidelines of how you expect the staff to act on site (for example, advise candidates that you are a drug-free workplace and any required workplace safety training).
Collect professional references of their previous work performance.
If necessary, verify their immunization records depending on where they will be deployed.

The key is to screen and onboard rapid response staff ahead of an emergency situation so they are ready to jump into action when the time arises.

Hire your next emergency response specialist today

Emergencies can, unfortunately, occur in any location or any industry for any reason. Don’t wait until a disaster occurs to prepare for how you’ll deploy your emergency response. It benefits forward-thinking organizations to begin building out their emergency response plan and sourcing the necessary staff so they are secure if and when the time comes.

Prepare for the unexpected by hiring skilled and qualified rapid response personnel. Get access to Insight Global’s network for capable and ready-to-deploy emergency response staff today.