Many managers would answer 911 if you ask them about their emergency plan. Yet, it should be part of it, not the plan itself.
In this article, I am going to walk you through emergency plans.
An emergency plan is the procedures following unexpected emergency situation. It is considering threats and hazards likelihood to occur and plan to handle them. It could include a call for an evacuation, shelter. Administration for first aid. The emergency service should provide full information in order to help the responders to supply aid efficiently.
Objectives of an emergency plan
- Save lives and prevent injuries
- Reduce damage of the premises, equipment and stocks of the organization
- provide security of information and assets
- prevent the interruption of the organization operations
The implementation of the plan begins with a vulnerability assessment. Then, potential hazards must be identified, vulnerabilities and their impacts analyzed. Therefore, different evaluations should take place such as:
- Threat evaluation.
- Vulnerability evaluation.
- Risk evaluation and
- Asset evaluation.
Key questions
What is the threat?
Who are the threat actors and what are the threat vectors?
What is the probability of the threat to happen?
What are our vulnerabilities?
Whihch asset to protect and what are its characteristics?
What are the consequences of the loss?
What is the level of security to achieve?
Set up an emergency action team
At this stage, relevant members must be asked to participate. Everyone would have a role to play in case the emergency occurs. The emergency team must be aware of the emergency plan. As a result, tasks, authority and duties should be clearly defined among the members.
The following are actions the emergency team should take
- Declare an emergency state
- Evacuate the premises or the danger zone. Make sure everybody is out of danger. This supposes to keep a list of all occupants of the premises. For example, at the entrance everybody signs the time of his arriving and leaving.
- Declare the alert
- Call for external help (911, police or fire fighter, ambulance…). Orient and inform them when they arrive
- Initiate rescue operations
- Orient and inform the external intervention
- Help out the persons with reduced mobility. First, an appropriate place must be defined where those persons must go. Second, to assign a member to help their evacuation.
- Be aware of the evacuation routs and make sure they are unobstructed all times.
Last not the least
Implementing an emergency plan is a very important step to achieve in organization. Nevertheless, tests must take place to prevent the problems that may happen. Thus, it could be improved, and members will be well trained. In addition, up dates have to fellow in order to take in consideration changes in the infrastructure, the material used and personnel.
