One Health Security · Resources
A structured audit of the preparedness state a biological response leaves behind for the next emergency.
After-action review asks how a response performed. The Biosecurity Recovery Audit asks a different question: what preparedness state has the response left behind for the next emergency?
OHS-BRA runs in two stages. Stage 1, approximately three months after stand-down, captures evidence, operational knowledge and emerging consequences that might otherwise be lost. Stage 2, twelve to eighteen months later, distinguishes durable preparedness change from transitional disruption.
Material findings are classified as Deficit, Restored or Dividend and must have an evidence basis, preparedness pathway, named owner, action, review date and closure condition.
Suitable for
Government departments, animal- and public-health agencies, resilience organisations, exercise teams and researchers assessing the consequences of biological emergencies.
Suggested citation
Morgan, A. (2026). OHS-BRA — Biosecurity Recovery Audit (Version 1.0). One Health Security. Experimental method and instrument.
OHS-BRA is an experimental method, not a validated audit standard. Its classifications — Deficit, Restored, Dividend — are structured to make preparedness consequences explicit and traceable, each requiring an evidence basis, owner and closure condition; they are not a substitute for formal assurance processes.
The two-stage design is deliberately spaced to separate transitional disruption from durable change, but the method has not yet been validated across a large number of emergencies. It is released to be applied and tested, and we are actively interested in where it does not work.
Download
Method and instrument (PDF), assessment workbook (Excel) with both stages, the Recovery Gap Register, the Preparedness Inheritance Statement and a worked example. Free to use with attribution.
Initial release — two-stage method, workbook, Recovery Gap Register, Preparedness Inheritance Statement and worked example.
The One Health Security Biosecurity Recovery Audit (OHS-BRA) is an experimental method for assessing the preparedness state left behind by a biological emergency. Rather than asking only how the response performed, it examines whether the emergency and its management created lasting preparedness deficits, restored capabilities or preparedness dividends.
OHS-BRA uses two stages. Stage 1, approximately three months after stand-down, captures perishable evidence, operational knowledge and emerging consequences. Stage 2, approximately twelve to eighteen months after stand-down, assesses which changes have become durable and establishes ownership and closure requirements.
The method examines six areas of preparedness inheritance: surveillance, workforce, institutional, economic, information and community inheritance.
Material findings are classified as Deficit, Restored or Dividend. Each finding should also identify its evidence basis, the pathway through which it could affect future preparedness, a named owner, required action, review date and closure condition.
An after-action review asks how the response performed. OHS-BRA asks what preparedness state the response left behind. A well-run response can still leave vulnerabilities, while a difficult response can create capabilities worth retaining. OHS-BRA is intended to complement rather than replace after-action review.
No. The unit of analysis is a material finding rather than a numerical score. Different preparedness deficits and dividends cannot meaningfully be collapsed into a single number.
Yes. OHS-BRA is freely available from One Health Security with attribution, including the method and accompanying Excel workbook.
Applying this work
One Health Security provides advisory support for organisations applying its research and assessment methods to biological preparedness and biosecurity governance.
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