When an emergency occurs, do you have a way of contacting your employees both during work hours and in the middle of the night? Your employees are a vested part of your business and hold valuable building and company information that may be vital should an emergency arise.
In the event of a facility emergency or other type of incident, your site personnel will be responsible to interface with emergency responders and any offsite contractors that may be performing critical functions at your facility during this emergency situation. These personnel assigned to manage these key issues should be selected carefully and have the proper training. Everyone in your company should know who these key personnel are!
Emergency preparedness refers to the steps taken to be ready to respond to and survive during an emergency.
What is the goal of emergency preparedness? The goal of emergency preparedness is to lessen the impact of the disaster (medical, fire, spill / release, threats of violence, and natural disasters) should or when an emergency situation occurs.
Why should you prepare for emergencies in advance? When an emergency occurs at your business, not having plans in place to deal with the situation and people pre designated to be in charge leads to a chaotic situation. If you have people trained in 1st aid at your facility and emergency 1st aid equipment available, but the trained personnel are not notified of the emergency and no one is designated to bring 1st aid equipment or notify emergency responders., what will happen? Chaos occurs—unpredictable behavior and disorganization.
Several key items to be aware of at your facility for emergencies:
• Location of electrical panels (power shutoff)
• Natural gas shutoff
• Fire sprinkler system shutoff
• Overhead crane shutoff
• Building water shutoff
• Spill kit locations
• Site fire hydrants (ensure not blocked by machinery / equipment)
• 1st aid equipment location(s)
• Eye wash locations
• SDS—safety data sheet(s) access / book or app for mobile access
• Storm water drain shutoff locations for site spills
