What must occur in order to make sure staff are capable of carrying out a disaster plan?

Be Prepared for Disasters

It is most effective to have one person in charge of creating the emergency preparedness plan.

Workplace safety is a topic of importance for most companies, as it keeps employees safe and productive, reduces liability issues, and prevents unneeded interruptions during business hours. Many businesses focus on the importance of safety for their workers as it pertains to everyday operations, but it is not uncommon for a company to overlook creating and implementing a comprehensive safety and preparedness plan for emergencies and disasters that may strike.

Some disasters, such as hurricanes or severe storms, can be forecasted, while other emergency situations can occur with little to no warning, such as earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, flooding, or a biological attack. A company-wide emergency preparedness plan is one of the most effective ways to prevent injuries or loss of life in the case of a disaster. For an emergency preparedness plan to be fully effective, it not only has to be comprehensive and well thought out, but also has to be something that every employee is familiar with and understands.

Creating an Emergency Preparedness Plan
It is essential for every business to have an emergency preparedness plan that focuses on informing and training employees on what to do in order to safely react to a disaster that affects the workplace. The main goal of an emergency plan is to protect employees, but an emergency plan can also help to protect the physical aspects of a business, such as office equipment or inventory, depending on the type of disaster being faced.

Risk Assessment
Certain areas of the country are obviously more prone to specific types of disasters. A business located in the Midwest may want to spend extra time when creating an emergency plan to prepare for tornadoes, while companies on the southeast coast may think about hurricanes, and a West Coast business may spend more time planning for a potential earthquake. Understanding the potential risks that are likely in a certain location allows a company to create a workplace emergency plan that encompasses all risks but gives extra attention to the disasters that are most likely to occur in its area.

This article originally appeared in the May 2015 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.

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• Job Hazard Analysis Guide

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• The Basics of Incident Investigations Webinar

  Without a proper incident investigation, it becomes difficult to take preventative measures and implement corrective actions. Watch this on-demand webinar for a step-by-step process of a basic incident investigation, how to document your incident investigation findings and analyze incident data, and more. 

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OH&S Digital Edition

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  October 2022

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What are the 4 main parts of an emergency plan?

What are the 3 steps in the emergency action plan?

What are the 4 steps in developing an emergency preparedness plan?

What are the next steps that you need to take to make sure you are prepared for any emergency?