Building a business takes years of time, money, and effort, but one emergency can change everything. If a crisis happened tomorrow, ask yourself, would you be ready?
Knowing your risks and having a plan in place to protect life, property and equipment should be a key component of your business plan. When a spill, leak, or natural disaster strikes, you can mitigate damage by being prepared with a corporate emergency action plan.
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What Is an Emergency Action Plan?
Think of your Emergency Action Plan as your roadmap through a disaster. This roadmap should explain what risks you may face, resources you may need, and how you will ensure and account for the safety of employees, building and equipment.
Depending on the size of your company, you may need to write down your plan or ensure verbally that employees are aware of procedures. Everyone in the company should understand that life is your most important asset, and job one is protecting it through the implementation of emergency procedures.
What Should an Emergency Response Plan Include?
Your OSHA emergency plan should be as detailed as possible. A comprehensive plan would include an overview of all potential hazards in your workplace. Are you susceptible to fires, explosions or hazardous chemical releases? Have you considered how you will respond to workplace violence or natural disasters? These potential risks should be addressed in your corporate emergency response plan.
An emergency action plan must also include information about employee roles and responsibilities during the emergency, contact information for the leaders responsible for the plan, training requirements, and information about your employee alarm system.
OSHA Emergency Action Plan Requirements
In order to meet OSHA’s emergency action plan minimum requirements, your plan should include:
- How you’ll report a fire or other emergency;
- Emergency evacuation procedure, including how you will account for all employees after evacuating;
- Procedures for employees performing rescue or medical duties; and
- Name and title of employees who can be contacted for more information about the plan.
Emergency action plan training is key to your plan’s success. OSHA requires that you designate and train employees to assist with the evacuation of employees.
Think about your floor plan and employees. Is your building wheelchair accessible? Is anyone on your staff mobility impaired? These are things you will need to account for in your plan and in your employee training.
You must review the plan with each employee covered by the plan. Remember this plan is a living document and will need to be updated each time you make a change and when an employee leaves or joins your team.
How to Make an Emergency Action Plan
Step 1: Risk assessment
The first step in creating your Emergency Action Plan is to identify and describe all potential hazards and risks that your company could face from both internal and external threats. Contact our team for further risk assessment training if needed.
Step 2: Available resources
Consider what resources are at your disposal to mitigate hazards. Do you have an indoor sprinkler system? Is your staff first aid or CPR certified? Where are your fire extinguishers located?
Knowing the answers to these questions before an emergency can impact your reaction time and ability to save life and property. Talk with your local emergency services personnel to determine their response time and how you can stabilize an incident before they arrive. Contact our team about First Aid and CPR training in Houston for further help.
Step 3: Know regulations
Consult with professionals to learn what regulations and codes pertain to your company and industry. Do you deal with hazardous chemicals? Your Hazard Communication Plan may play a role in your emergency response plan. It’s best to consult with experts to find all applicable laws and ensure you meet OSHA compliance.
Step 4: Develop your Emergency Action Plan
Incorporate all OSHA minimum standards for Emergency Action Plans. Determine the procedures that would most efficiently and effectively save lives and property, and then clearly and concisely write them in your plan.
This plan should include plain language so anyone inside or outside your organization could understand and implement it. You should include a procedure for each of the emergency scenarios you identified in your risk assessment.
Step 5: Conduct training and drills
A time of crisis should not be the first time staff enacts your OSHA emergency plan. For the plan to work, employees must be trained on the procedures you’ve described. You should also conduct drills and tabletop exercises so that all staff knows precisely how the plan will work in real-time.
According to OSHA, an Emergency Action Plan will be useful only if its content is up to date and employees are sufficiently educated and trained before an actual evacuation.
Where Should Emergency Action Plans Be Posted?
Your company’s plan should be distributed to all employees and posted in a place where all employees have access to it, like a common area or break room. Remember that plans change over time and you will need to review the procedures with employees each time the plan is updated.
Safety By Design Can Provide Emergency Action Plan Training
Nothing is more important than keeping employees safe and mitigating potential workplace risks. The experts at Safety By Design can help your company navigate how to make an emergency action plan and specific emergency response plan steps for your industry.
Contact us today to help your business stay safe and strong.
