Plan for the unexpected

In the wake of the attacks on people at work in airplanes, at the World Trade Centre, and at the Pentagon in 2001, many organisations reviewed their emergency plans.

Similarly with natural disasters like the Asian Tsunami, Cyclone Katrina in New Orleans and our own Cyclone Larry in North Queensland, all organisations need to think about the issues involved.

If a major disaster struck your workplace with your full contingent of workers on site, how would things pan out?

Nobody expects an emergency or disaster – especially one that affects them, their employees, and their business personally.  Yet the simple truth is that emergencies and disasters can strike anyone, anytime, and anywhere.

You and your employees could be forced to evacuate your company when you least expect it. Yet, the best way to protect yourself, your workers, and your business is to expect the unexpected and develop a well thought-out emergency action plan to guide you when immediate action is necessary.

A workplace emergency is an unforeseen situation that threatens your employees, customers, or the public. It disrupts or shuts down your operations or causes physical or environmental damage.

Emergencies may be natural or manmade and can include:

• Floods,
• Hurricanes,
• Tornadoes,
• Fires,
• Toxic gas releases,
• Chemical spills,

The importance of an effective workplace disaster plan, including safety and health program, cannot be overemphasised.

There are many benefits from such a program including increased productivity, improved employee morale, reduced absenteeism and illness, and reduced workers' compensation rates. However, incidents still occur in spite of efforts to prevent them. Therefore, proper planning for emergencies is necessary to minimise employee injury and property damage.

In The Australian on 21 March this year, the Queensland University of Technology information systems senior lecturer, Neville Meyers said that there is a major lack of preparation for workplace problems.

The Australian article written by journalist, Selina Mitchell, pointed out that Australian companies can not rely on teleworking to keep them operating in the event of a disaster.

“Companies here are not at all well prepared for a major disaster,” said Neville Meyers, a Federal Government adviser.

The article went on to indicate that Dr Meyers, said there was "almost a total absence of planning, but telework could be a critical aid in such circumstances".

"The technology may be in place, but very few Australian companies have teleworking policies and certainly no contingency plans in terms of what to do if any kind of disaster occurs," he said.

Earlier this year, a Queensland government department sent home hundreds of workers indefinitely because of a structural fault in an office building and although it had the technology to telework, its executives hadn't thought through how to make it operate, Meyers said.

The two most fundamental issues to have covered off when disaster strikes are:

• Notification
• Limiting employee exposure

Notification:

You need to design a system so that any employee who notices an emergency situation or one of “imminent danger” can notify management or other personnel. Even though your staff may be involved in containing a hazard or removing employees from exposure, management needs to be made aware of potential problems as early as possible.

Limit Employee Exposure:

Depending on the type of emergency, you may need to limit both the number of employees exposed and the extent of exposure. Is partial or total evacuation of the building, or the use of appropriate personal protective equipment necessary? Right up front, in the first seconds or maybe first few minutes, emergency response efforts must focus on limiting employee exposure.

Of course, a full workable plan involves a great deal more than a couple of paragraphs about notification and limiting employee exposure – these two elements are simply examples of the level of detail that’s required.