Why do churches conduct Risk Assessments? Church Risk Assessments are conducted to identify hazards and vulnerabilities within the church premises that can cause harm to the church and its community. As time goes by the church property changes (grows, adds buildings and programs) and new hazards can develop.
Conducting church risk assessments are industry best practice and are used to enhance church safety and security, prevent accidents and incidents from happening, and allows churches to develop emergency response plans for identified hazards that could impact the church in the future. Risk assessments are beneficial because they identify and mitigate hazards long before they morph into crime, injury, or liability for the church, and they are easy to perform once you know how. In this article we will discuss what the risk assessment process is, why churches should plan and prepare for risk in advance, and what happens if churches do nothing.
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CHURCH risk assessments
Risk assessments are a preventative measure taken to identify risk and threat hazards within the church environment. An initial risk assessment would start with local emergency management agencies to evaluate pre-identified geological threats (Earthquake, wildfire, flooding, etc.) associated within the region of the church. Local public safety (police & fire) would also be contacted to evaluate prior emergency responses to the church property and any known hazards in the immediate area of the property.
The next step is to inspect the church property, buildings, and programs to evaluate potential hazards within each element. Our risk assessments incorporate Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) techniques in the following five (5) focal points:
- Security Process and Procedures
- Facility Security Measures
- Loss Prevention Measures
- Civil Liability Risk
- Operational Risk
Once the church risk assessment has been completed and all hazards are identified and evaluated, a report is completed and submitted to church leadership. The report will include a summary of each hazard and recommended mitigation remedies. Policy and procedure as well as emergency response plan recommendations will be developed based on the assessment findings.
WHY PLAN AND PREPARE FOR RISK IN ADVANCE
It is prudent for churches to assess their situation periodically. Churches who offer counseling or addiction programs have increased risk of violence due to related emotions and stresses of the people seeking these services; churches situated on a busy street or adjacent to a freeway may experience higher traffic and crime due to its property location; churches with an older membership will likely experience a higher number of medical emergencies; churches who rent their facilities for weddings or social gatherings and events may experience increased violence, thefts, assaults and property damage.
Conducting facility and program risk assessments annually is the industry best practice. This is in addition to a new property, structure or program that may be added to the ministry, or an event or rental agreement (contract) signed, outside of the annual assessment. Each of these events would trigger a risk assessment for the specific issue. One of the responsibilities of a Church Safety & Security Program is to facilitate these risk assessments and this role is usually completed by the Security Director or a designee.
Why churches Complete Risk Assessments:
- Preparation helps us identify risk & threat hazards specific to the organization, geography, and surrounding demographics.
- Preparation allows us to develop specific response plans congruent with church leadership, policy, and procedure.
- Preparation allows us time to develop and train individuals prepared to respond to de-escalate identified hazards.
- Preparation reduces injury/harm to our staff and membership should a significant hazard occur.
- Preparation allows for the development of a culture of Safety & Security within our congregation.
- We are Biblically obligated to do so!
What Happens if we do not prepare for risk?
An objective response based on planning, policy and training is defensible (due diligence) and reduces risk, liability, and harm. The opposite is true when there is little or no preparation toward a risk or threat and it can be shown there was an awareness or potential for the threat to occur.
- Doing nothing creates chaos & panic for the congregation if an emergency occurs.
- Doing nothing creates uncontrolled responses by staff and members.
- Doing nothing nurtures an environment for members to overreact and/or under react and both of these reactions can make a situation far worse.
If it’s Predictable – It’s Preventable!
Gordon Graham – Risk Management Expert
FAQ
Yes. City, County, State and Federal agencies are all required to complete and update Emergency Operation Plans (EOP) for their jurisdictions. These plans are available to the public and will already contain known geographical hazards (Earthquake, Tornado, Flooding, etc.) specific to the geographical location of your church.
Yes. Information regarding ‘Calls for Service’ is public information. Typically, agencies will furnish a report detailing dates, times, and types of service calls they responded to at the requested location. However, they do not provide further details, but this data is sufficient for identifying potential risks and threats related to the church.
Larger agencies may require you to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain this information. This process generally takes 1-4 weeks from the time of request.
We recommend that you establish a relationship with your local law enforcement agency. Call the agency and request a meeting with the patrol sergeant and/or beat officer/deputy assigned to patrol the churches area. These specific resources will have the best knowledge of current crime trends likely to impact the church and would be very helpful in this process.
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Public Safety Training LLC is available to assist your church with any safety and security training or assessment need. Contact us anytime – We are here to serve!
Michael Elerick is the President of Public Safety Training LLC, a church safety and security training and consulting company. He retired from law enforcement as a Special Operations Commander and SWAT Commander. He served as the Executive Director for the Public Safety Training Institute (2010-2020), a non-profit public safety training organization, and has over three decades of experience as a Risk Manager and Security and Tactical expert. He is the author of Church Safety & Security 101, Emergency Preparedness for Church Volunteers, Church Security Team Development, Church Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), among other works.
