Promoting employee health by having an emergency preparedness plan

Part of promoting employee health, is having an emergency preparedness plan. Employer and their employees should know what they need to do, if a fire breaks out, a natural disaster occurs or some other catastrophic event that will threaten the health and safety of everyone, in the business. Having an emergency preparedness plan is the best way to not only prevent accidents and fatalities, but reduce the amount of panic and chaos that can happen, should the worst occur. Here is what you need to know about promoting employee health by having an emergency preparedness plan-

- Start with planning-You will need to do a lot of planning in order to put together a effective emergency preparedness plan. The management team can begin this process by talking with emergency responders. They can help to determine the best safety exits and possible escape routes that should be used, during an emergency evacuation. In addition, these are the people who can offer guidance as to what emergency supplies should be kept on hand, in order to keep everyone safe. The management team should also take a close look at all safety protocols that are applicable to the business, and make sure that they are being practiced to the fullest extent. You should also keep in mind that most safety protocols are updated periodically so it is important to keep up on the latest version of these safety measure. Once the an overall emergency preparedness plan has been put together, then the management team can move onto to the implementation.
- Know what the plan should encompass-While every business will need certain issues to be addressed in their emergency preparedness plan, there are guidelines that OSHA has issued concerning what must be included in every business emergency preparedness plan. These guidelines include:
1. Proper documentation of emergency escape procedure and visible marking of the proper escape routes.
2. A specific assignment to particular employees who will be in charge of getting all employees on their floor to safety. In addition, there may be other assignments given such as turning off gas lines, or other issues that could contribute to making the problem larger.
3. Clear and written procedures that will insure that each floor of the building has been cleared and every employee is then accounted for.
4. Certain employees being assigned to gain training rescue and medical procedures (such as CPR). These employees must also be able to perform said procedures during emergencies.
5. Assignment being given to certain staff members, to report what has happened, such as a fire breaking out, damage occurring etc.
- Put a training program in place-Once you have a basic emergency preparedness plan, it is not time to begin training everyone within the business. You must take the time to train your employees, so that they are highly familiar with any applicable safety protocols as well as any emergency preparedness measures that should be taken in case of a disaster. You need to make sure that all employees are familiar with the emergency preparedness plan, so multiple training session may be necessary. In addition, all new hires should go through training to become familiar with the emergency preparedness plan.
- Review the emergency preparedness plan-Too often businesses put an emergency preparedness plan into place and then forget about it. The staff then goes on about their job duties, and when a problem occurs everyone panics. While a full fledged drill is not always necessary, someone needs to be in charge of making sure exits remain unblocked, fire extinguishers are working, and all safety equipment is in place. This will help insure that if the worst should happen, everyone can respond with the training that they have received.