ATTENTION: The KCEM Guidelines were revised by the KEMA Board of Directors in March 2017.  The revised edition will supersede any previous guidelines. 

CRITERIA FOR INITIAL CERTIFICATION:

1.  Formal Education:  At least a High School Diploma or equivalent.

2.  Employment Requirement:  Applicant must currently be performing the functions of an emergency management professional staff position within the state of Kansas.  This position may be with a public, private or non-profit organization or business – as a full or part-time employee or as an unpaid volunteer.  A copy of the applicant’s current job description or a letter from the applicant’s employer describing the emergency management related functions the applicant is currently performing must accompany the application.

3.  Experience:

            a. General:  At least two (2) years emergency management experience.

1. This experience may be either paid or unpaid and may be from any combination of governmental (local or state), private business, profit or non-profit organizations.
2. This experience must be in a position responsible for some aspect of emergency management (including the specifics outlined below).  A position held in an emergency response type agency (such as emergency management, fire service, law enforcement, emergency medical service or the military) will not be considered without the specific emergency management function.
3. On the application, please provide the name of Supervisor(s) for these positions and current contact information for verification purposes.

            b. Specific:  Within the experience outlined above, the following specific experience is required:

1. Planning:  Must have taken the FEMA Emergency Management Institute’s (EMI) Emergency Planning course or Multi-Hazard Safety Program for Schools.  This may be in the classroom, on-line or as a home study course.
2. Exercises:  Must have taken the following EMI online courses:
   IS-120 - An Introduction to Exercises and IS-130 - Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning, plus attend the two courses being conducted by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management titled, Exercise Design for Discussion Based Exercises and Exercise Design for Operations Based Exercises. In addition, applicants are required to participate in the design, execution, evaluation and proposed improvement planning for at least one exercise per year for the past two year period. Official documentation must be provided such as sign-in rosters from meetings concerning the design, or a list of agency participants from the exercise, After Actions Report, and Improvement Plan. The applicant must also provide documentation of completion of the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP).
3. Training:  Shall have successfully completed current National Incident Management System (NIMS) training requirements for the emergency management function.
4. Professional Education/Training: In addition to the above training, applicant must have completed within the eight (8) years immediately prior to application, at least eighty (80) hours of professional education and training related to emergency management.  This may be classroom, home study or Internet classes that will be eligible for the number of contact hours listed on the course certificate or course list.
   Of the eighty (80) hours:

a)    At least forty (40) hours must be from the EMI/FEMA/DHS curriculum but not from the EMI radiological curriculum. Of those forty hours, two required emergency management courses must be included: IS-775 - EOC Management & Operations, and IS-230 - Fundamentals of Emergency Management.

b)    The remaining forty (40) hours may include more EMI/FEMA/DHS curriculum hours and/or up to forty (40) hours non-EMI/FEMA/DHS emergency training (e.g. SARA Title III, fire service, law enforcement, weather service, etc.) and not more than twenty (20) hours from the EMI radiological curriculum.

c)    Duplicate classes which contained updated/revised/modified information may be accepted at the discretion of the committee.

4. Sponsorship: All applicants seeking initial certification must obtain and include with their application a letter of sponsorship from a current KEMA Board Member or KCEM Certification Commissioner.