CS03: Emergency Management and Critical Incidents Response

This policy was approved at the April 24, 2025 meeting of the Board of Governors. 

About the policy

The purpose of this policy is to protect the health and welfare of the VIU community by reducing the negative impacts resulting from emergencies, disasters and critical incidents. This policy also ensures compliance with the Emergency and Disaster Management Act and the requirements for Education Quality Assurance (EQA) status.

Consultation on the draft policy is now closed. The consultation took place from January 13, 2025 until 4 pm on February 7, 2025. 

The policy process is now complete. The final policy and the consultation report are available here:

• CS03: Emergency Management and Critical Incidents Response
• CS03: Emergency Management and Critical Incidents Response - Consultation Report

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. Consultation drafts and information about the policy are provided below for your information.

Policy information

A board level policy requiring emergency management and critical incident response plans will meet the fiduciary obligations of the board to manage risk.

For critical incidents, there is an additional need to meet the requirements for Education Quality Assurance (EQA) status: "The institution must create and implement a policy and process for managing critical incidents and crisis situations, including designating specific staff member(s) responsible for the institution's crisis and critical incident management.  The policy must be available on the institution's website." EQA certification is required for any PSI accepting international students.

Though critical incident response policies are not yet common among comparators, it was determined that a joint policy with emergency management would ensure compliance with the new Quality Assurance requirements.

A new joint policy was developed to respond to these requirements.

Table of Concordance: Policy 

Documents for review

CS03: Emergency Management and Critical Incidents Response (draft)