Department of Environmental Health and Safety

Enterprise Risk Management:

Emergency Reference Guide

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Enterprise Risk Management is the capacity of an educational institution to prepare for, withstand, and recover from major disasters or other circumstances which threaten or disrupt normal operations. This involves the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the activities here at UTD in order to minimize the effects of risk. Enterprise Risk Management expands the process to include not just risks associated with accidental losses, but also financial, strategic, operational, and other risks. This is sometimes referred to as campus resilience, campus preparedness, or campus resiliency. Enterprise Risk Management can be categorized into four continuity focuses: Academic Continuity, Business Continuity, Operational Continuity, and Campus Safety and Security.

Academic Continuity is the process of maintaining continuity of learning in a crisis situation caused by a natural disaster, "man-made" disaster, or other precipitating factor. Academic continuity is vitally important because it focuses on maintaining
the core function of education: providing students with the opportunity to learn.

Business Continuity is an institution's ability to maintain or restore its business and academic services when some circumstance threatens or disrupts normal operations. Business continuity includes disaster planning and disaster recovery, as well as other activities.

Operational Continuity is a broader term which focuses on functions not typically considered as business or academic services such as research, intercollegiate athletics, etc. As a more generic term, at times it may also be used as a synonym for business continuity or academic continuity. On this website, the term is primarily used for those functions not typically considered by other focus areas. As such, it refers to functions which are distinct from academic continuity; however, since campus activities are tightly integrated, operational and academic continuity are closely related to each other.

Campus Safety and Security is an important feature of Higher Education. The University of Texas at Dallas is committed to providing students with a safe environment in which to learn and to keep faculty, staff and students well informed about campus security. These goals were advanced by the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990. The University is committed to ensuring that postsecondary institutions are in full compliance with that Act, and enforcement of the Act is a priority of the University and University Police Department.