Tim's Blog

5 steps to improve your emergency preparedness

 

 

Many organisations think that “emergency preparedness” starts and ends with making a list of obvious emergencies, drafting an emergency manual, appointing an emergency team, and holding the occasional drill, generally a fire drill.

 

Whilst all those actions are necessary, I believe there is more to it.

 

A workplace emergency is an unplanned or unexpected event that requires the urgent action by staff with specific skills, resources and processes to prevent or reduce its potential consequences. Therefore, being prepared for a workplace emergency requires a carefully planned and systematic approach.

 

Please note: this blog is about preparing responses to emergency situations when they arise. It is not about preventing the emergency situation from arising in the first place.

 

A 5-step emergency preparedness approach

 

Step 1 – Identify emergency situations

Step 2 – Develop emergency response actions

Step 3 – Assign emergency roles and conduct emergency response training

Step 4 – Set up clear lines of communication

Step 5 – Run emergency drills and implement improvements

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Identify emergency situations

 

Workplace emergency situations may be natural, technical or man-made events that could endanger workers, visitors, contractors or the general public; they may also disrupt workplace operations or cause damage to buildings.

 

Some workplace emergency situations can be easy to plan for. They will be specific to your industry, site infrastructure or operations. Other emergency events, such as earthquakes or severe weather, are harder to predict and plan for. However, their impact can reach beyond the physical premise and affect logistical processes.

 

When identifying potential workplace emergencies, consider:

  • safety and environmental hazards in your work areas
  • potential emergencies that could occur at neighbouring facilities and affect your work areas
  • workplace incidents and near-miss reports

 

Consult your workers when doing this work.

 

Examples of potential workplace emergency events

 

Potential workplace emergency events can include:

  • fire or explosion
  • chemical spills/leaks
  • storm, flood
  • escape of toxic or flammable gas, vapour or dust
  • loss of power/gas/communications
  • exposure to extreme environments (e.g. heat, cold, noise)
  • traffic management failure
  • unsafe infrastructure, equipment or energy release
  • medical emergency

 

These events may arise from, for example:

  • equipment or process failure
  • insufficient training or supervision
  • operator error
  • failure to act after a previous workplace incident.

 

Record all emergency situations or incorporate them into a suitable register.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Develop emergency response actions

 

Emergency response planning requires careful consideration. Response actions should be practical, well-planned and not generate new WHS or environmental hazards.

 

Calculate the safety or environmental risk for each workplace emergency. Do this by estimating the consequences and likelihood of each event and determine a risk rating. Prioritise emergency situations based on the risk rating. Starting with the highest-risk situations, develop response actions.

 

Response activities need to be practical to be effective. For example, planning to deploy absorption socks from a spill kit when a 200 L drum of acid is ruptured 10 metres from a drain is probably going to be ineffective. Consult with workers involved in or familiar with the operations where potential emergencies could occur to help ensure relevancy and effectiveness of response actions.

 

Identify any WHS or environmental hazards involved in the response plans and try to eliminate or else minimise these using the hierarchy of control.

 

Document the work done in Steps 1 & 2 and retain as evidence of due diligence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Assign emergency roles and conduct emergency response training

 

When implementing the emergency response plans, define formal emergency roles for staff such as fire wardens and first aid officers. Provide specific emergency response training for staff in these roles. Ensure that there are always enough of these staff members available during operating hours; and that staff absences affecting these roles are addressed promptly.

 

Provide general emergency response training for all other workers and short-term contractors which includes (as a minimum):

  • site emergency plans and procedures (and where to find copies of these)
  • identification of emergency exits and assembly areas
  • location of emergency equipment and fire protection equipment (as appropriate)
  • location of first aid equipment
  • instructions on how to safely shut down equipment (as appropriate)
  • evacuation drills.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Set up clear lines of communication

 

Emergency response training will provide all staff onsite with instructions and information as to what to do in an emergency. When an emergency occurs and external emergency services personnel such as the fire brigade need to come onsite they may not be familiar with your worksite and the hazards they could encounter, so ensure a fire warden is available to advise them.

 

Emergency preparedness includes having defined lines of communication between staff members in emergency roles and both internal and external persons onsite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Run emergency drills and implement improvements

 

Emergency drills are an essential hands-on practice which tests and reinforces emergency response training. Performing emergency drills several times can help those in the workplace respond more effectively and reduce confusion, panic and mistakes when an actual emergency occurs.

 

Other benefits from running emergency drills include:

  • helping workers become familiar with site emergency response procedures and exit routes
  • testing site emergency response procedures and emergency equipment to ensure they are working correctly
  • identifying any problems with the procedures, identifying areas for improvement and making needed adjustments to procedures or emergency plans
  • instilling a sense of preparedness and safety among all staff.

 

Most worksites run regular fire drills, which is important, but other types of emergencies need to be practiced too. Run drills for the workplace emergency situations with the highest safety or environmental risk (from Step 2). Set up realistic scenarios with mock incidents and have your workers respond. You might also include a medical evacuation in some drills. (I recommend advising site personnel of the training drill beforehand to avoid unnecessary stress or trauma).

 

Conduct a post-mortem and implement any corrective actions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mockup incident examples you can try

 

These are two examples are mockup incidents I have performed during workplace audits:

 

Mockup incident example 1 – Chemical injury

Scenario – I advise that a worker’s eyes have been splashed with a caustic chemical and I ask workers to respond.

 

Example of response – The workers may respond by calling a first aid officer or going to the first-aid cabinet to find saline and an eye-cup. Both these responses are inadequate.

 

Key takeaway – Where hazardous chemicals are used, an appropriate first-aid eye wash (eye-wash bottle or eye-waste station) needs to be easily accessible and used immediately. Workers who handle hazardous chemicals should be trained in how to use first-aid equipment appropriately and be familiar with the first-aid instructions in the Safety Data Sheets.

 

Mockup incident example 2 – Chemical spill

Scenario – I knock over a container of water (stand-in for a chemical) and ask workers to implement spill control.

 

Example of response – Staff may struggle to get the spill kit open. Once it is open, they may neglect to put on the PPE (or may find no PPE in the kit), or be uncertain as to how to use the contents of the spill kit because it is the first time they are seeing the contents. By this stage, the “chemical” has disappeared down the drain and they realise that the response plan, even if executed well, is inadequate and needs to be revised.

 

Key takeaway – First and foremost, emergency response plans need to be tested in development, and training in its execution is crucial. This training should be supplemented with regular spill kit inspections to ensure the appropriate contents, including PPE, are present. There should also be regular inspections to ensure spill containment systems (e.g. bunding) remain effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bringing it all together with an emergency plan

 

An emergency plan is a key part of emergency preparedness. It is a legal requirement for the person conducting the business or undertaking (PCBU) to prepare an emergency plan instructing workers on what to do should an emergency occur.

 

The emergency plan is a written document based on the identified workplace emergency situations (Step 1 above) and emergency response actions (Step 2). The emergency plan must outline practical information to workers including the information considered in Steps 3-5 above.

 

The emergency plan, or summary of the emergency plan listing required actions, should be easily accessible to workers, and should be implemented when there is an emergency.

 

Key inclusions in the emergency plan include:

  • site emergency response procedures and schedule of testing procedures
  • arrangements for emergency response training for workers
  • map of the workplace highlighting the location of fire protection equipment, evacuation routes, emergency exits and assembly points
  • contact details of staff members with assigned emergency roles
  • contact details for local emergency services personnel, such as police, fire brigade and poison information centre
  • description of the emergency warning used to alert persons at the workplace to the emergency, for example fire siren
  • post-incident processes, for example notifying the regulator, medical treatment or trauma counselling assistance
  • communication lines between the person authorised to coordinate the emergency response and all persons at the workplace

 

Reviewing the emergency plan

The emergency plan must remain current to be effective. Consider reviewing or revising the emergency plan when:

  • there are changes to the interior or exterior of the workplace
  • there are changes to the number or set up of workers
  • new activities or major equipment have been introduced
  • improvements or corrective actions are made after emergency drills or real emergencies.