1. Preparedness; save lives; confusion
2. Prevent injuries; uncertainty; emergencies;
3. Prevent injuries; save lives; limit property damage.
4. Confusion; emergencies; preparedness

ANSWER

Prevent injuries; save lives; limit property damage.

WHY IS IT RIGHT

Fire, natural disaster, and other emergencies can strike your workplace without warning. While you can’t predict them, you can prepare for them and preparedness save lives, prevent injuries, and limits property damage. 

CONDUCT HAZARD ASSESSMENT

The primary hazards in an emergency such as a fire, chemical release, serious machine malfunction, workplace violence, or natural disaster are often only the beginning of the damage and destruction. A hazard assessment will shed light on all these possible hazards.

IDENTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY CONTROL PROCEDURES AND WRITTEN EAP

The next step is to use the findings of your hazard assessment to develop a written Emergency Action Plan (EAP). The plan must include:

1. All possible emergencies, consequences, required actions, written procedures, and available resources.
2. A detailed list of personnel to contact in an emergency and their role in an emergency.
3. A list of external organizations to contact such as fire, rescue, and ambulance services; hospitals, police department and any government agencies; utility companies; and any industries in nearby that should be informed because of a potential safety risk to their workers and their operations.
4. Floor plans and large-scale maps showing excavation routes, emergency equipment, hazardous areas (i.e. chemical storage), as well as gas and water lines and other information as required by applicable safety regulations.

An EAP should include the following:

1. Personnel Assignments: The EAP should establish a clear chain of command in which all personnel have clearly assigned roles in the event of an evacuation. The EAP should designate:

• A leader with authority to order an evacuation or shutdown.
• An appropriate number of evacuation wardens to help with the evacuation and ensure that everybody is accounted for before evacuating themselves.
• Individuals to remain behind to carry out or close-down vital plant operations before evacuating themselves.
• Individuals authorized to perform rescue or medical duties in the event of an evacuation.

2. At a minimum, the EAP must incorporate the following procedures:

• Procedures for reporting fires and other emergencies.
• Emergency evacuation procedures, including evacuation type and identification of exit routes.
• Procedures to help disabled employees that require assistance to evacuate.
• Procedures for the employees who remain behind to operate critical plant operations before evacuating themselves.
• Procedures to account for all employees after evacuation.
• Procedures for the employees performing rescue or medical duties.

3. Alarm & Notification Systems including:

• An alarm system that uses a distinctive signal that all employees recognize to communicate orders to evacuate or perform other actions under the EAP.
• A public address or other emergency communications system that’s available to use to notify employees of the emergency and contact local fire, police and other emergency respondents.
• An auxiliary power supply in case electricity is shut off.

4. PPE & Protective Clothing: Workers counted on to extinguish fires or who are otherwise exposed to risk of fire and explosion must be equipped with and use appropriate PPE and protective clothing.

• Foot and leg protection;
• Protective footwear;
• Body protection;
• Gloves or glove systems;
• Head, eye and face protection; and
• Respiratory protective equipment.

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

Workers must receive training and education needed to carry out their roles under the EAP.

Other items to educate workers on include:

• Threats, hazards and protective actions.
• Notification, communication and warning procedures.
• Means of locating family members in an emergency.
• Emergency response procedures.
• Evacuation, shelter and accountability procedures.
• Location and use of emergency equipment.
• Procedures for emergency shutdown.

Ensure workers understand and can apply their training on the job by:

• Quizzing workers on the lesson after you deliver it.
• Making workers demonstrate the procedures covered during the training.
• Making workers demonstrate proper use of the PPE covered during the training.
• Staging evacuation drills to verify that workers can carry out the EAP and evacuate safely in the event of a fire or other emergency.

INSPECT, MONITOR, REINFORCE, AND IMPROVE 

• You must review the EAP with each worker the plan covers when:
• The EAP is first developed or the worker is first assigned to carry out a responsibility under the plan;
• The worker’s responsibilities under the EAP change; and
• Changes are made to the EAP itself.

Monitoring must be carried out on an ongoing and continuous basis. The monitoring process never ends.

WHY IS EVERYTHING ELSE WRONG

Anything less than devising and implementing an EAP, will fall short of protecting the workplace in an emergency. Confusion and uncertainly are typical in an emergency. They happen from not knowing or recalling how to react or not recognizing the potential for danger.

Knowing and practicing what to do before and emergency occurs is a key step in protecting yourself and your co-workers.

If you do not feel you are ready for an emergency, contact your supervisor or safety contact in your organization. If you wait for an emergency to learn how to protect yourself, its likely already too late!!!