An Emergency Plan Should Be Reviewed and Updated
Being Prepared for an Emergency Requires a Regularly Updated Emergency Plan
Emergency incidents that could impact a facility run the gamut from fires to tornadoes to bomb threats — or worse. All facilities will eventually come nether some blazon of threat, and it's a facility manager's job to protect the facility and occupants and ensure that business organisation gets back upwardly and running smoothly as shortly as possible.
Creating an emergency plan is the all-time way to prepare for potential problems. Having detailed plans in place for multiple types of emergencies is something facility managers should have — and many do.
The problem is that there's no transmission for emergency preparedness and most facility managers (hopefully) take footling experience dealing with actual emergencies. That means that even the about prepared, experienced facility managers might miss something in the heat of an emergency. Hither are some of the most commonly overlooked areas of emergency planning.
1. Have a Plan
It may seem obvious, just the offset step in emergency planning is really having an emergency program. Not all organizations have one. "I'one thousand surprised all the time past the amount of small and medium sized businesses that have no plan at all," says Richard Sem, president and security consultant of Sem Security Direction, a consulting firm. "Usually the reasoning is either that it won't happen to them or they think they can handle emergencies by the seat of their pants," he says. But trying to brand upward procedures when everything is hit the fan isn't a good idea.
Emergency plans should be thorough and encompass a range of different types of emergencies. Sem breaks information technology down into two categories: adventitious and purposeful. Accidental includes incidents like fires, chemical spills or natural disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc.). Purposeful incidents include man-made emergencies, such as terrorism, workplace violence or assaults. If an organisation has an emergency plan, chances are it will embrace the adventitious side of things and go out the purposeful man-made emergencies lacking. That'due south because while facility managers are well aware of the risk of fires or storms, incidents similar active shooters or workplace violence seem more than far-fetched.
Some facility managers think of emergency plans in completely the wrong style, says Joan Stein, president and CEO of Accessibility Development Assembly. "They talk in terms of evacuation without thinking about beingness prepared. Many focus on saving the building and its contents as opposed to saving the virtually valuable asset, the people," she says.
Ever since incidents like the Virginia Tech shooting, even so, facility managers are at the very least aware of the potential for emergencies like workplace violence. "Those relationship-based issues that come upward that atomic number 82 to workplace violence are really somewhat common and the press has washed a good job of roofing them and moving them to the forefront," says John Welling, chairman of NFPA pre-incident planning and chief of emergency services with Bristol Myers Squibb. Seeing incidents in facilities in the news has gotten facility managers to wonder "what if," and hopefully translate that into creating a more comprehensive emergency plan.
One market that has historically been at the forefront of emergency preparedness is teaching. Protecting children, whether they're eight or 18, has always been a priority. Things like fire, tornado and lockdown drills are becoming even more mutual than they were 30 years ago. Colleges and universities are typically at the cut border of implementing new types of emergency communications systems in the wake of increasing campus violence incidents. "There'south a movement at present toward borrowing from educational activity the response aspect in cases of workplace violence," says Sem.
2. Update the Program
When facility managers create an emergency programme (or have inherited one from previous FMs), they may call back their job is complete and their facility and occupants are now safe. That can be a big mistake. "Also not having a program at all, the second biggest mistake is having a folder gather dust on a shelf," says Sem. "Years ago, they put money and attempt into the programme, merely then they left it."
The plan needs to be a living certificate, says Sem, and Welling agrees. "Facility managers should review their emergency plans on at to the lowest degree an annual ground," he says. Welling warns, though, that in that location are some codes and regulations that require more frequent reviews, such as in the case of hazardous materials. Locally, some jurisdictions crave educational facilities to review their plans more often than annually as well. Exist sure to research whatsoever such requirements in your location.
In addition, key contact information in an emergency plan should exist kept in an appendix document so information technology tin exist updated as needed without a formal review process, says Welling. "It'south not adept to put lots of contact information into the plan itself because people forget to update it," he says. Keeping the contact information all in a single document fastened to the emergency programme will make updating easier.
Emergency plans should likewise be workable, says Sem. "If you accept a behemothic binder, when all hell breaks loose, yous won't accept time to notice the information yous demand. Plans don't have to be lengthy, they have to be usable," he says. They should be organized well with reference tabs in order to go immediately to a department that tells people what to do. Sem too warns against having an electronic-only document. "What happens when your computers are down?"
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Source: https://www.facilitiesnet.com/emergencypreparedness/article/Being-Prepared-for-an-Emergency-Requires-a-Regularly-Updated-Emergency-Plan--12008