I. know your risks - Listing potential emergencies and ranking them in regards to importance and likelihood is essential to knowing what to do and what resources to invest. There is no need to invest dollars in hurricane planning if your facility is not near a coastal area, nor should you spend a lot of time for earthquake planning if your facility is not near any area normally susceptible to earthquakes or with a history of seismic activity. That doesn't mean that you totally ignore these risks, just that you don't dwell on detailed response tasks. The risk assessment should be based on an all-hazards approach for those hazards affecting the facility. A risk matrix can help identify the areas where an investment is most needed. Using this type of matrix, the facility or security manager can categorize each risk or emergency based on the impact it would have if it occurred and on the likelihood of the event happening in your area