Although much has been said about development of formal, writtencrisis management procedures for public entities and privatebusinesses--especially in light of the terrorist attacks of Sept.11, 2001--a show of hands at a seminar here revealed that only twoout of 30 public-sector risk managers had an emergency manual inwriting.

"If you don't have a manual, start thinking about where you needto go and how to develop it," said Rogert J. Krall, director ofrisk control services with Trident, the public-entity segment ofArgonaut Group--a specialty underwriter based in Chicago.

Mr. Krall--presenting a session on "Terrorism: Public BuildingProtection" at the Public Risk Management Association annualconference here last month--advised public-sector risk managers toconsider whether their sewer plants, parks and recreation centers,highway departments, and other sensitive or highly populated areasare well protected in case of a crisis.

"How about City Halls? During the day there's a lot ofactivity--you've got police officers and public officials in andout," he noted. "But what kind of police presence do we have? Howprotected and how safe are we, really?"

He said risk managers of public entities should take actions toreduce risks and review their capabilities in a crisis.

"Can you effectively guard yourself and really protect yourselfwhile still providing the police patrol the citizens expect? Canyou do all of this with the same manpower that you've got withinyour police departments?" he challenged.

This can't be accomplished, he warned, without a solid, writtenplan of action detailing who does what in an emergency.

He said risk managers need to identify their priorities, andwhether they can be accomplished without additional manpower.

"Can you get away with installing more closed-circuit TV camerasor with more lighting?" he asked. "Can you reduce exposure byputting in traffic-control devices or barricades? How do you reducerisk without a lot of manpower, and how do you make thingseasier?"

Marilyn Rivers, risk and safety manager with the City ofSarasota Springs, N.Y., who was present at the seminar, toldNational Underwriter that because of homeland security protocolsrequired of county and local government organizations, mostentities have some type of contingency plan in place.

She noted, however, that some public-safety organizations don'trealize how valuable the risk manager can be. Risk managers "havethe knowledge and where-with-all to get all those emergencyexpenses from their insurance carriers, and they have the bankaccounts--they know where the money is," she said.

She added that risk managers have an added value because theyare not politically motivated and "strive to find solutions foreveryone and not just a faction of the entity."

Risk managers also have access to the insurance carrierscovering public entities, "which are phenomenal partners in anyemergency situation," she said, asserting that insurer expertiseand services are often underutilized.

If so, this oversight can leave gaps in emergency plans--forexample, if public-sector risk managers are left out of earlyplanning phases by para-military organizations, such as police andsheriff departments and the National Guard, she added.

Her own municipality is a case-in-point, she noted, because itsemergency plan originally was written without the input of riskmanagement. The situation changed, however, after "two severeweather issues," when she earned the respect of emergency responsegroups, she said.

Ms. Rivers described the situation: "I was wearing a pair of redrubber boots and I was in a dress, and I was hooking up athree-phase emergency generator," she said, recalling that she had"scoured the county" to find the generator, which was neededbecause no plans had been made for City Hall--only the policestation was covered in the event of a power failure.

Because risk managers are often "so taxed" with day-to-dayduties, she said they can miss opportunities to get involved onlong-term disaster mitigation planning in "the way they need to, inorder to earn trust with police and other departments."

Mr. Krall also stressed communications between risk managers andfactions of state, federal and local government. "You need tocontact the sheriff or police chief," he said. "Work with them andfind out what they know--they may not be telling youeverything."

For example, he asked: "Do you know if your sheriff or policechief is involved with the FBI and gets regular announcements? Ifthey don't communicate with the feds, they won't know what's goingon, both overseas and here."

In dealing with another communications area--the media--headvised risk managers to "develop boiler-plate press releases. Youwant to be able to talk to the press and control what goes out."When dealing with a disaster, he said risk managers need to knowwhat steps the government entity will take and communicate that tothe press--and, thus, to the public--so everyone knows how theirgovernment will respond in a crisis.

He said another area to be considered is accountability, "sothat when you get to the end of an incident, you can debrief howthings occurred and who was responsible."

Mr. Krall said security measures should include two-way radios,panic buttons, motion detectors and closed-circuit televisioncameras--both inside and outside of public buildings.

Great Britain has more closed-circuit TV cameras on theirstreets and highways than any other country in the world, he noted."They've solved street crimes by using the cameras and followingwhere the perpetrators went," he said--with the same systems ableto monitor and identify those involved in a terrorist attack

Closed-circuit TV cameras can also help entities monitor theperimeters of a high-profile target site, and at the same time saveon staffing expenses, he said.

Mr. Krall also recommended that entities implement "no-fly"zones over areas seen as potential targets, before an incidentoccurs.

"You want to be able to move in either military helicopters,state police helicopters, your own helicopters or [medicalevacuation] helicopters," he explained. "But if that area is notidentified as an FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] no-fly zone,you're going to have the press all over you, flying around."