Will Your Emergency Plan Survive an Emergency?
We all know that as part of our obligations to manage risks to health and safety in a workplace we need to have an emergency management plan in place which:
Assesses likely emergency threats to the site, organisation and staff.
Outlines controls to reduce the likelihood of those threats arising.
Outlines response procedure in the event the threat does occur.
Is periodically tested to ensure it remains current and staff can implement the response procedures as required.
However, recently an organisation we work with found that whilst they had all the above elements in place and were confident in their emergency response plan, once an emergency actually occurred the plan “wasn’t worth the paper it was written on”.
The reason was the emergency itself took out multiple staff and critical members of the organisation, either through injury or being unable to attend the site. As such the remaining staff did not have the expertise or physical resources to implement the response plan as written, costing time, money and greatly delaying their ability to control the emergency resulting in additional injuries to staff.
So, how robust is your plan?
Whilst having a plan in place is a great step, it is not sufficient to ensure you’re ready for when that emergency will occur. Undergoing regular scenario testing, both desktop simulated and physical drill, with thorough assessment and evaluation will help to properly check your plan for weakness and exposure risks, to assist in identifying where things can go wrong and help ensure your organisation can respond to the emergency when it arises, even when the plan itself is impacted.
Safety Action have undertaken numerous scenario simulations for organisations to assist them with this process.
Contact us on 03 8544 4300 or via email for more information.
