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Volunteer credentialing is a required component of utilizing volunteers in any disaster scenario for all localities, even at the most basic level. An effective credentialing system allows management to triage and use volunteers properly during response and recovery from a disaster.

Yet this process starts well before a disaster hits. Engaging volunteers throughout preparation and planning will not only give volunteers the skills they need to effectively contribute to disaster relief efforts when disaster hits, but it also creates a pool of credentialed volunteers to draw from throughout response and recovery.

Planning efforts should also identify how to develop a process for credentialing unaffiliated volunteers once a disaster does strike. This process should be quick and easy to enact during the chaotic days following the disaster. Most if not all of the credentialing processes for spontaneous volunteers will take place at the volunteer reception center (VRC)

Best Practices for Credentialing

Application Process

Emergency management officials in Pulaski had not developed an application for credentialing prior to the 2011 tornadoes. According to Neal Turner, emergency services coordinator for Montgomery County, VA, they were not able to properly triage and use volunteers until they developed a simple application form. The form, which needed to be completed by each potential volunteer, was used to gather contact information, including license information, availability and skillsets.

Marci Stone, emergency management coordinator for the City of Roanoke, recommends having volunteer job descriptions prepared ahead of the application process and to recruit, train, engage and recognize volunteers. This helps create clear expectations among volunteers, in addition to ensuring that management officials can assign volunteers to positions that are appropriate to their skillsets and availability.

Screening Process

If not properly vetted, volunteers can quickly become a liability issue. Tuner noted that the application Pulaski County developed also included a disclaimer that volunteers would be subject to a criminal background search.  “On day one, we worked with the police department to get criminal background checks done,” he says. “We need to know who the volunteers are,” adds Stone. “Vet them in advance just as if they were applying for a job.”

To fully mitigate the liability risk volunteers present, it’s also crucial to verify the contact information provided, in addition to carefully reviewing and validating the information on the volunteer application. Once volunteers are thoroughly vetted, their information should be entered into a volunteer database.

Volunteer Tracking

Cross-referencing skillsets in a database can help align volunteers to specific tasks. Even a simple spreadsheet containing volunteers’ basic information can be an effective solution for recording credentialed volunteers.

According to The Corporation for National & Community Service, assigning a VRC staff member to a data entry role can ensure that accurate records are kept of volunteer efforts and dates. Be sure to coordinate this effort with accounting and finance departments, who will need accurate records in order to maximize funding and reimbursement received for usage of volunteer services during a disaster.

Affiliation

Volunteers credentialed in advance of a disaster can be one of the most valuable assets in response and recovery. Often affiliated with relief or faith-based organizations, credentialed volunteers are often capable of providing their own housing, food and other needs, according to Turner. In Pulaski, several faith-based organizations provided volunteers, including: Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Samaritan’s Purse and God’s Pit Crew, among others.

Faith-based organizations also have experience in screening new volunteers, which can make them an asset in this capacity as well. Turner advises volunteer managers to employ these faith-based organizations to help streamline the volunteer process. Turner explains. “Have volunteers showing up affiliate with them,” he says.

To find out more about organizations providing disaster relief in your area, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) member list is a great place to start.

Volunteer Photo Identification Cards/Bracelets

For organizational and safety purposes, every credentialed volunteer should be issued a photo ID and an identification number, which should then be entered into the volunteer database.

According to the Volunteers of America Best Practices Manual, the identification card or bracelet should include the “name, agency or site to which they are referred and the dates they expect to volunteer.” ID cards should be visible at all times to ensure that credentialed volunteers have access to secure sites.

Consider using an identification system that differentiates volunteers from contractors. In Pulaski County, a color-coded system was used to distinguish volunteers from contractors, and volunteers received a three-digit identification number while contractors received a four-digit one. The planning process should include equipment and steps for creating and issuing large numbers of ID cards – Turner notes that Pulaski County had to issue more than 3,000 photo IDs in a single week.

Parking Passes

Although not an essential component of volunteer coordination, issuing parking passes to volunteers can provide an extra safety mechanism to ensure that only credentialed individuals are allowed into disaster sites. Chief administrative officers can coordinate with public safety personnel during the planning stages to determine which method will work best to meet the community’s specific needs.

Officials in Pulaski County, who did not have a plan in place for issuing parking passes following the tornadoes in 2011, encountered looting and scamming from unauthorized individuals who were allowed into the disaster area. They developed a method where each vehicle was credentialed with a color card that changed daily. Turner suggests changing the vehicle color card discretely to help reduce or eliminate predatory junk removal and repair contractors from accessing the disaster site.

Training

Volunteers need to receive a volunteer orientation on what to do and not do, in addition to basic safety training. Specific training depending on the assigned task may also be required once volunteers are on-site. No volunteer should be allowed on the disaster site without completing orientation and safety training.

Safety training typically takes place at the VRC. Localities should consider employing public safety personnel, who are already familiar with the material, to conduct safety training for volunteers. For a suggested list of general safety guidelines, visit the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Managing Spontaneous Volunteers in Times of Disasters.

When possible, volunteers should be trained prior to a disaster. Stone recommends using a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program to create a level of readiness with citizens. CERT provides six weeks of training that help prepare community members to deal with tasks that need to be completed in the first 72 hours – debris removal, tree cutting and donation management, among other critical tasks.