In the utility contracting industry, things can go bad in many ways, whether it’s industrial incidents that injure employees, medical emergencies, and natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. Knowing what to do in these circumstances is vital to reducing the overall damage to life and health of employees and the impacts on our communities and environment.
Do you have a plan? If not, then the advice is to get the help needed to develop the plan you will need. Having an emergency action plan is not only a wise idea, but also required by OSHA. The plan needs to be written and shared with all employees so everyone on the job knows how to respond or at the very least knows where to go to find the necessary information.
If you have a plan, do your employees or coworkers know the plan? Are they trained on the plan on a regular basis? Are you having drills to practice the plan? Is the plan audited on a regular basis as well?
Wayne Schmidt’s quote, “Good planning always costs less than good reacting,” is a good way to view the importance of having a good emergency action plan. The purpose of the plan is to protect the safety and health of employees first and foremost, but also to protect the environment, infrastructure and the public. By preparing employees in advance of a disaster your organization can minimize the panic and confusion that can develop in a crisis situation. Being able to be organized and efficient helps your response and give the public a sense of comfort, not to mention getting water and sewer services back up as soon as possible.
The emergency action plan’s basic functions are to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from any number of emergencies that could occur. Mitigation involves activities and measures designed to either prevent the occurrence or reduce the vulnerability by minimizing the impact of an emergency. Adding hurricane shutters to your building or installing a fire alarm and fire extinguishers are examples of mitigation strategies. Preparation involves activities or measures that are planned for and put into place prior to an emergency for the purpose of supporting the response to an emergency. Having the necessary materials to secure your building is an example of preparation. Also, having regular training and drills is a great way to be prepared for an emergency.
Once the emergency happens, how you respond is vital to how you recover. Responding involves activities that address the immediate and short-term effects of the emergency that has occurred or is occurring. Response activities may have to wait until after the emergency, as in the case of a hurricane. The focus of response activities is to protect and preserve life, stabilize the emergency, minimize the impact and to begin restoration. Lastly, protecting property and the environment as much as possible. Recovery involves activities intended to return all systems to their original state — getting leaks repaired, putting systems back into place and getting your operations up and running as quickly and safely as possible.
Having an emergency action plan may not seem like a topic of discussion for workplace safety, but it is. It’s not just about having a plan to deal with a hurricane or a tornado. Are employees capable and ready to respond to severe injuries on the job site, cave-ins, confined-space emergencies, vehicle collisions, medical emergencies like a heart attack or a stroke? These types of events should also be addressed in the emergency action plan and employees should be trained in how to respond. Too many mistakes have been made in the past costing additional lives because employees did not know what to do when an emergency happened on the job site.
Having a robust emergency action plan is a vital part of workplace safety. It protects employees and gives them the knowledge to respond with confidence during emergencies. Having a plan also ensures your company is in compliance with OSHA regulations as well as other governing bodies that require a plan. Lastly, having a plan promotes and improves your overall safety culture in the workplace.
