Emergency Action Plan
Nobody expects an emergency or disaster-especially one that affects them, their employees, and their business personally. However, emergencies and disasters can strike anyone, anytime, and anywhere. You and your employees could be forced to evacuate your workplace when you least expect it.
A workplace emergency is an unforeseen situation that threatens your employees, customers, or the public; disrupts or shuts down your operations; or causes physical or environmental damage. Emergencies may be natural or man-made and include the following:
- Floods
- Hurricanes
- Tornadoes
- Fires
- Chemical or biological weapon attacks
- Toxic gas releases
- Chemical spills
- Radiological accidents
- Explosions
- Civil disturbances
- Workplace violence resulting in bodily harm and/or trauma
What is an Emergency Action Plan?
An emergency action plan (EAP) is a written document required by particular OSHA standards. The purpose of an EAP is to facilitate and organize employer and employee actions during workplace emergencies. The elements of the plan must include, but are not limited to:
- Evacuation procedures and emergency escape route assignments.
- Procedures to be followed by employees who remain to operate critical plant operations before they evacuate.
- Procedures to account for all employees after an emergency evacuation has been completed.
- Rescue and medical duties for those employees who are to perform them.
- Means of reporting fires and other emergencies.
- Names or job titles of persons who can be contacted for further information or explanation of duties under the plan.
"What you need to do is plan for every conceivable event and assume what's going to happen is the one thing you didn't plan for" according to Phillip Jay Rothstein, a disaster recovery consultant (Reid, K., 2001).
Why do we need an EAP?
When presenting the "case" for emergency management, avoid dwelling on the negative effects of an emergency (e.g., deaths, fines, criminal prosecution) and emphasize the positive aspects of preparedness.
For example:
- It helps companies fulfill their moral responsibility to protect employees, the community and the environment.
- It facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements of Federal, State and local agencies.
- It enhances a company's ability to recover from financial losses, regulatory fines, loss of market share, damages to equipment or products or business interruption.
- It reduces exposure to civil or criminal liability in the event of an incident.
- It enhances a company's image and credibility with employees, customers, suppliers and the community.
- It may reduce your insurance premiums (FEMA, 2002
Do you have a plan for battling viruses—not just computer but biological viruses?
In early 2001, a Ford assembly plant in Ohio had to close because of an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease. According to report prepared by Michigan State University ("Critical Incident Protocol—a public and private partnership", 2000, page 3), most business do not have an emergency or recovery plan even though they know it is important. Forty-seven percent of business that experience a fire or major theft go out of business within two years.
According to one author,
Consider how a few years' time can affect your emergency action plan when you do not keep it up to date. The frequency of disasters and emergencies may be low, but the severity of an occurrence can be very high. An unplanned event can put your company out of business. Protect your company by keeping up-to-date on your risks, having a plan for responding to those potential disasters...(Muldoon, 2001)