The Emergency Management Center (EMC) maintains an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time to monitor and maintain situational awareness of critical events potentially impacting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) employees, missions, or buildings. The EOC can be fully activated for 24-hour operations, if necessary, when an emergency or the threat of an emergency occurs with potential major or critical impact to DOL employees and/or missions.

The EOC functions as a centralized conduit of information internally for DOL executives to support decision making and management of the emergency, as well as externally to support situational awareness and coordination with the homeland security and emergency response communities under the National Response Framework (NRF).

The DOL EOC also serves as the Department's primary point of contact for emergency management issues and Continuity of Operations (COOP) and Continuity of Government (COG) plan implementation, as needed.

The EOC provides notification of emergency incidents that lead to activation; maintains situational awareness through information monitored via the National Operations Center (NOC), Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), and other outlets; tracks assigned actions related to the situation; provides situation reports (SITREP) on the status of the Department's employees, programs, and facilities; and keeps other operation centers informed as appropriate.