Emergency Action Planning

Planning to minimize all workplace hazards is not easy. All employers face the possibility of emergencies. Having an emergency action plan that addresses unforeseen disasters is one of the best ways an employer can protect the workplace from fatalities. 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. Well-developed emergency plans and proper employee training (such that employees understand their roles and responsibilities within the plan) will result in fewer and less severe employee injuries and less structural damage to the facility during emergencies. A poorly prepared plan will likely lead to a disorganized evacuation or emergency response, resulting in confusion, injury and property damage.

At a minimum, the plan must include but is not limited to the following elements:

· Means of reporting fires and other emergencies;

· 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;

· Names or job titles of persons who can be contacted for further information or explanation of duties under the plan

· A description of the alarm system to be used to notify employees (including disabled employees) to evacuate or take other actions. The alarms used for different actions should be distinctive and might include horn blasts, sirens or public address systems.

· The site of an alternative communications center to be used in the event of a fire or explosion.

· A secure onsite or offsite location to store originals or duplicate copies of accounting records, legal documents, your employees' emergency contact lists, and other essential records.

There are many emergency services protocols that apply in an emergency, which usually start with planning before an emergency occurs.

Disaster management (or emergency management) is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Disaster management does not avert or eliminate the threats, although their study is an important part of the field. Events covered by disaster management include acts of terrorism, industrial sabotage, fire, natural disasters (such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.), public disorder, industrial accidents, and communication failures.

Management, as set out below:

• Recognition or identification of risks
• Ranking or evaluation of risks
• Responding to significant risks
• Tolerate
• Treat
• Transfer
• Terminate
• Resourcing controls
• Reaction Planning
• Reporting & monitoring risk performance
• Reviewing the Risk Management framework

Emergency management consists of five phases: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

Prevention was recently added to the phases of emergency management. It focuses on preventing the human hazard, primarily from potential natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Preventive measures are taken on both the domestic and international levels, designed to provide permanent protection from disasters. Not all disasters, particularly natural disasters, can be prevented, but the risk of loss of life and injury can be mitigated with good evacuation plans, environmental planning and design standards.

The planning phase starts at preparedness, where the agencies decide how to respond to a given incident or set of circumstances. This should ideally include lines of command and control, and division of activities between agencies. This avoids potentially negative situations such as three separate agencies all starting an official rest centre for victims of a disaster.

Following an emergency occurring, the agencies then move to a response phase, where they execute their plans, and may end up improvising some areas of their response (due to gaps in the planning phase, which are inevitable due to the individual nature of most incidents).

Agencies may then be involved in recovery following the incident, where they assist in the clear up from the incident, or help the people involved overcome their mental trauma.

The final phase in the circle is mitigation, which involves taking steps to ensure no re-occurrence is possible, or putting additional plans in place to ensure less damage is done. This should feed back in to the preparedness stage, with updated plans in place to deal with future emergencies, thus completing the circle.

Translate the nouns and write the verbs they are derived from:

recovery ___________________

prevention_________________

preparedness _______________

mitigation _________________

response __________________

management _______________

protection_________________

evacuation_________________

reduction__________________

improvement________________

Fill in prepositions if they are needed and write down your own sentences:

To reduce____ hazards; to prevent_____   fires; to protect ____ flooding; to rovide ____efficient tools; to respond ____emergency; to recover ____ disaster.

Fill in the table with the information of the text: