ACROSS Our PRESS DESK......

Sam Cahan, PE     

Is Your Emergency Action Plan Vulnerable?

At our last Chapter meeting (3/05) I presented my views on these four components of an emergency action plan (EAP) that can badly go awry:

1. The effectiveness of the Personnel Movement Officer. (I called him the "people mover") Without his ability to effectively train supervisors to control the orderly flow of evacuees to exits and safe zones, the potential for chaos exists.

2. The second problem refers to the certainty that back-up persons will always be available and ready to replace those that have the primary duties to implement the EAP. Because of vacations, illnesses, retirements and similar factors, this requirement is self-evident.

3. The third vulnerable element is the problem of reliable communications. Without solid feedback and two-way communications during a crisis the official in charge cannot evaluate the entire emergency situation in order to re-direct endangered occupants to safety.

4. The final and significant factor concerns the quality of management's commitment to the emergency action program. Its solid participation becomes a visual example of a company safety culture that will permeate to all lower levels of management and employees. 

Quoting from the 9/11 Commission report on the World Trade Center disaster:

Private sector preparedness is not a luxury. It is the cost of doing business in the post-9/11 world. It is ignored at a tremendous potential cost in lives, money and national security.