The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 11-9161.00 · Job Zone 4

AI exposure: Emergency Management Directors

Plan and direct disaster response or crisis management activities, provide disaster preparedness training, and prepare emergency plans and procedures for natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes), wartime, or technological (e.g., nuclear power plant emergencies or hazardous materials spills) disasters or hostage situations.

Reading this score

computed

45.0% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Emergency Management Directors at the 82th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.9 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.

What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 23 tasks it averages 1.83 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.

The most exposed thing this job does is Maintain and update all resource materials associated with emergency preparedness plans, at 73.3%. The least is Develop and maintain liaisons with municipalities, county departments, and similar entities to..., at 11.7%. A gap of 61.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.

Within management occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 56 roles in the group is 41.2%, and only 9 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.

What would move this score. Of 23 tasks, 18 are currently banded exposed, 3 assisted and 2 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.

Task by task

23 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Maintain and update all resource materials associated with emergency preparedness plans.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.36exposed
Apply for federal funding for emergency-management-related needs, and administer and report on the progress of such grants.73.3%26.7%0.0%3.45exposed
Prepare emergency situation status reports that describe response and recovery efforts, needs, and preliminary damage assessments.60.0%40.0%0.0%4.36exposed
Keep informed of activities or changes that could affect the likelihood of an emergency, response efforts, or plan implementation.60.0%15.0%25.0%4.05exposed
Attend meetings, conferences, and workshops related to emergency management to learn new information and to develop working relationships with other emergency management specialists.60.0%15.0%25.0%3.86exposed
Inventory and distribute nuclear, biological, and chemical detection and contamination equipment, providing instruction in its maintenance and use.58.3%29.2%12.5%2.67exposed
Design and administer emergency or disaster preparedness training courses that teach people how to effectively respond to major emergencies and disasters.55.4%32.1%12.5%4.09exposed
Collaborate with other officials to prepare and analyze damage assessments following disasters or emergencies.50.0%25.0%25.0%4.09exposed
Develop instructional materials for the public and make presentations to citizens' groups to provide information on emergency plans and their implementation processes.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.55exposed
Keep informed of federal, state, and local regulations affecting emergency plans, and ensure that plans adhere to those regulations.47.5%27.5%25.0%4.00exposed
Conduct surveys to determine the types of emergency-related needs to be addressed in disaster planning, or provide technical support to others conducting such surveys.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.90exposed
Propose alteration of emergency response procedures, based on regulatory changes, technological changes, or knowledge gained from outcomes of previous emergency situations.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.67exposed
Consult with officials of local and area governments, schools, hospitals, and other institutions to determine their needs and capabilities in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency.42.5%32.5%25.0%4.64exposed
Develop and perform tests and evaluations of emergency management plans in accordance with state and federal regulations.42.5%32.5%25.0%4.14exposed
Coordinate disaster response or crisis management activities, such as ordering evacuations, opening public shelters, and implementing special needs plans and programs.40.0%35.0%25.0%4.43exposed
Prepare plans that outline operating procedures to be used in response to disasters or emergencies, such as hurricanes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks, and in recovery from these events.40.0%35.0%25.0%4.29exposed
Review emergency plans of individual organizations, such as medical facilities, to ensure their adequacy.40.0%35.0%25.0%4.00exposed
Study emergency plans used elsewhere to gather information for plan development.40.0%35.0%25.0%3.09exposed
Provide communities with assistance in applying for federal funding for emergency management facilities, radiological instrumentation, and related items.35.0%40.0%25.0%3.35assisted
Develop and implement training procedures and strategies for radiological protection, detection, and decontamination.23.3%26.7%50.0%2.77assisted
Train local groups in the preparation of long-term plans that are compatible with federal and state plans.20.0%30.0%50.0%3.38assisted
Inspect facilities and equipment, such as emergency management centers and communications equipment, to determine their operational and functional capabilities in emergency situations.13.3%11.7%75.0%4.05untouched
Develop and maintain liaisons with municipalities, county departments, and similar entities to facilitate plan development, response effort coordination, and exchanges of personnel and equipment.11.7%13.3%75.0%4.48untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

Where the score comes from

judged

Every task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability2.910-4
Embodiment0.410-3
Presence0.780-3
Accountability1.280-3
Context1.830-3
Verification cost1.740-3

What this means in practice

Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.

Occupations either side of this one

The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.

Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.