Emergency Preparedness and Response

Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) Rules

Emergency preparedness and response (EPR) rules are designed to assist licensed child care programs to adequately respond to the needs of children and others in the event of disasters and emergencies.

Please refer to section .0600 and .1700 (Child Care Rule .0607 and .1714) within Chapter 9 – Child Care Rules for more information and guidance related to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Training and EPR Plan.

EPR Training

Centers and family child care homes have (1) one year from the date of their initial license to complete the EPR in Child Care Training. When staff trained in EPR leaves employment, the center or family child care home must ensure another staff person completes the required training within four months of the vacancy.

EPR Plan

Following completion of the EPR in Child Care training, the trained staff member of the center, or the operator(s) of the family child care home, shall develop the EPR Plan within (4) four months.

The EPR Plan addresses how a child care center, or a family child care home will respond to both natural and man-made disasters; to ensure the safety and protection of the children and staff. Natural and man-made disasters include but are not limited to the following: fire, tornado, flood, power failures, chemical spills, bomb threats, earthquakes, blizzards, nuclear disasters, or a dangerous person(s) in the vicinity.

Trained staff are required to review the EPR Plan with staff during orientation and annually. Substitutes and volunteers in ratio and additional caregivers who are present must be informed of the EPR Plan and its location.

For questions related to the EPR Plan content, contact your EPR in Child Care trainer or Child Care Licensing Consultant. You may also contact the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) at 1-800-859-0829 (out of state) or 919-814-6365 (in state) to request assistance from the Training and Program Development Consultant.

Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care Centers

Existing child care centers must have one person on staff who has completed the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training. New centers must have one person on staff who has completed the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training within one year of the effective date of the initial license. Documentation of completion of the training shall be maintained in the individual's personnel file or in a file designated for emergency preparedness and response plan documents.

Emergency Preparedness and Response in Family Child Care Homes

Existing family child care home operators (operator or operators) shall complete the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training. Within one year of the effective date of a new license, the operator of a new family child care home shall have completed the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training. Documentation of completion of the training shall be maintained in the operator's personnel file.

Emergency Preparedness and Response Training

To find an Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) in Child Care training, contact an EPR trainer in your community. You can also search training locations from the EPR Calendar on the CCRR Council website. You will see the EPR calendar link on the top right corner of the home page. EPR training can also be found from the website of the CCR&R agency or Partnership for Children nearest you.

Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan Template

In collaboration with NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center, and DCDEE, the NC Emergency Management developed a standard EPR template for use (statewide) by licensed child care programs. The content for this template aligns with the EPR in Child Care training and the EPR rules. 

The Child Care Rules state that programs must use the EPR template provided by the Division which is available from the NC Risk Management Portal. which houses emergency planning tools for a variety of hazards. 

Accessing the EPR Template
To access the EPR Template, the trained staff must have an NCID. You may register for an NCID at the following link: https://ncid.nc.gov/

If you need help getting an NCID, here are detailed instructions for obtaining an NCID.

Once you get an NCID, you will access the EPR template on the NC Risk Management Portal website. Once you are on the NC Risk Management Portal website, use the ‘Getting Started’ instructions listed to the right-side of the page.  

EPR Plan - Technical Assistance & On-going Support

For technical assistance and on-going support regarding emergency preparedness and response in child care, contact the North Carolina Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center or 1-800-367-2229.

Monitoring the EPR Rules

Each component of the EPR plan listed in rule will be reviewed by your Child Care Consultant.

A shelter in place or lock down drill should be completed quarterly. DCDEE does not expect programs to begin conducting these drills until the operator or designee has completed the EPR training. Child Care Consultant will monitor for these types of drills after a facility has completed the training.

Consultants will review the EPR Plan annually to ensure the designated staff reviewed and updated the plan in the last year.

When reviewing staff files, consultants will look for documentation of the review of the EPR Plan which should occur during orientation and annually. Consultants will also ask to see the documentation of substitute and volunteer staff notice of the EPR Plan and its location.

Interested in Becoming an EPR Trainer?

The NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center offers the EPR Online Train-the-Trainer Course several times each year. There is no charge for the course. Those interested and who meet the eligibility criteria should complete the online application to take the course.

All EPR trainers are required to offer EPR training to child care providers in their communities. 

Important note: This training may not be given to child care providers for contact hour credits until DCDEE has confirmed approval or review of the submitted non-exempt/exempt training packets.

After completion of the course:

Non-exempt: Trainers should complete the non-exempt training packet for Emergency Preparedness and Response (denoting 2-2.5 contact hour credits (CHCs) for the training) and submit the training packet by email to dcdee.inservice.training@dhhs.nc.gov.

Exempt: If your training is not already listed on your annual training plan, please add the Emergency Preparedness Training to an addendum (denoting 2-2.5 CHCs for the training) and submit the forms by email to dcdee.inservice.training@dhhs.nc.gov. 

How to Transfer an EPR Plan to a New NCID

To transfer an EPR Plan, you must have an NCID. If you do not have an NCID, please follow the six steps below.

1. Go to https://ncidp.nc.gov/ncidsspr/  

2. Choose individual account and click “Submit”

3. Complete the requests on the NCID website that ask for the following information:

• requested user ID (first initial and last name e.g. jsmith)
• name
• email address
• password
• Answer to a few questions that will verify your identity. You choose the questions you want to answer. If you forget your NCID or your NCID needs to be reset, you will be asked to answer those questions for security purposes.

4. Submit your request

5. Watch for an email from ncid.notifications@nc.gov  

6. Confirm your request within 3 days (this completes your NCID registration)

To register the new user NCID, login to the EPR portal (using the new User’s NCID)

1. Go to https://rmp.nc.gov/portal/

2. Click on “Planning Tools”

3. Click on the “Child Care Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan”

4. Click on the link “Log in with my NCID” in the grey box

5. Enter your NCID user name and password and click “OK”

6. Click on the “Child Care Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan”

7. Click on the down arrow

8. Click on “Get Started”

9. DO NOT create a new plan

10. Click the “Cancel” button (you will not see the ‘Create a new plan’ box with a ‘Create Plan’ and ‘Cancel’ button if you already logged in before and created plan(s))

11. Click “Logout” at the top of the page

EPR Help Request

EPR Help Requests need to be emailed to DCDEE at dcdee.inservice.training@dhhs.nc.gov. To request EPR help, please call 919-814-6365. The more information you provide, the easier it is to transfer a plan. In the subject line of the email, indicate your request (i.e. Request to Transfer EPR Plan to New NCID). Provide the following information in the message body of the email:

Old user’s email address and old user’s NCID username

• New user’s email address and new users NCID username
• Your contact information
• EPR Plan title, facility name, and the city and county name for facility location

EPR Questions
For EPR in child care questions, please email the NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center at resourcecenter@unc.edu or contact by phone (800) 367-2229, choose 1, then 2. You may also contact the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) at 1-800-859-0829 (out of state) or 919-814-6365 (in state) to request assistance from the Training and Program Development Consultant.