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Community emergency response team (CERT)

Community emergency response team (CERT)

Local preparedness and first response, using the evidence for the place it serves.

Start this cellAll cell types

Boundary A CERT holds no authority to command. It acts with the competent local authority and within its instructions.

To launch
5 members
or more
Roles
5
each a credential
Decides by
Advice process
yours to change
Joining
By request
set per cell

How it works

The operating model

  1. People

    • Lead1 needed
    • Deputy lead1 needed
    • Safeguarding contact1 needed
    • Logistics coordinator1 needed
    • Secretary1 needed

  2. How it decides

    1. Propose
    2. Discuss
    3. Advice process
    4. Record and sign
    • Quorum rules
    • Conflict-of-interest recusal

  3. First work

    • ProjectLocal hazard and resource map
    • ProjectHousehold and site preparedness plan
    • IssueConfirm the contact with the competent local authority
    • IssueAgree the call-out and check-in procedure
    • CallVolunteers for the response team

  4. Services

    • Learning
    • Maps and twins
    • Forms
    • Help desk
    • Translation

Start this cell

Community emergency response team (CERT)

Cells · The Global Risks Index

What would you like to do?

Type

Each type comes with roles, a decision rule and a first project you can change later.

Cell type

Pick the type closest to your work. Everything can be changed later.

Teams on the ground

Research and learning

Data, systems and tools

Policy, standards and review

Mission and area

What the cell will do, where, and the first problem it takes on.

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Set the pin on the map, or name the place and give its coordinates.

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Scale
The problem it works on

Roles and founders

You lead unless you choose someone else. Open roles show on the cell's page for others to take.

Email addresses or member names, one per line. Members get an invitation; others get an email to join.

Who holds each role (you lead unless you choose)
  • Lead
  • Secretary
  • Safeguarding contact
  • Deputy lead
  • Logistics coordinator

Host organisation

The organisation the cell works under. A network body can host it if you have none.

Charter

A starting charter from the type. The founders ratify it by a vote once the cell forms, and can amend it by proposal.

Safeguards on decisions
Who can join
Meets

Safeguarding

Who takes part

With members under 18, a safeguarding contact is named in Roles, and their names are never shown in public.

Find a cell

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Go back and choose "Form a cell" to start the first one.

Ask to join

What you bring and what you would like to do. An open cell lets you in at once; any other reads your note first.

Your organisation

The network body reviews the offer and lists the organisation as a host.

Cells it can host

Review and submit

Check your answers. You can change any of them later from the cell.

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In detail

Purpose, roles, agreements and expertise

Purpose

Prepares a neighbourhood, campus or workplace for the hazards it faces and organises trained volunteers who support, and never replace, the emergency services.

Members under 18 Members under 18 take part in preparedness and exercises only, never in response, always with an adult safeguarding contact, and are never listed in public.

Roles and what each does
RoleWhat it doesMinimum
LeadConvenes the cell, holds its mandate from the host and speaks for it.1 required
Deputy leadStands in for the lead and shares the coordination load.1 required
Safeguarding contactAn adult named to receive and act on any concern about the safety of a member.1 required
Logistics coordinatorKeeps the equipment, contact lists and call-out arrangements ready.1 required
SecretaryKeeps the records: minutes, decisions, the member list and the cell log.1 required
The whole starter work programme

First projects

  • Local hazard and resource map
  • Household and site preparedness plan
  • Tabletop exercise

First issues

  • Confirm the contact with the competent local authority
  • Agree the call-out and check-in procedure
  • Record first-aid and safety training

Open calls

  • Volunteers for the response team
Decision rule and agreements

Advice process

Anyone may decide, after seeking advice from everyone affected and from those with expertise; the advice is on the record.

  • Cell charter Required The mission, scope, host, roles, governance model and how the cell closes.
  • Membership agreement Required What members commit to, how they join and leave, and how credit is recorded.
  • Data sharing agreement Optional What data the cell holds, who may use it, for what, and for how long.
  • Intellectual property and open licence Required Who owns the outputs and the open licence they are published under.
  • Code of conduct and safeguarding Required How members treat each other, how concerns are raised, and who acts on them.
Expertise and competence evidence
  • Preparedness, emergency and crisis management
  • Community resilience and inclusion
  • Early warning and anticipatory action
  • Floods, storms and tropical cyclones
  • Heat, drought and wildfire
  • Public health emergencies and epidemics
  • Mental health and psychosocial risk
  • Public health
  • Medicine and clinical science
  • Civil and structural engineering
  • Urban planning and built environment
  • Sociology and demography
  • Psychology and behavioural science
  • Lead Preparedness, emergency and crisis management, at capability level 3 (Role-specific capability)
  • Member Community resilience and inclusion, at capability level 1 (Participation literacy)
Where it can form

Guides and support

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