be continuously reviewed and incorporated with the specific needs
of the organization.
At SRC, the program is lead by an emergency management
team, consisting of a group of employees who respond to potentially
threatening incidents and assist with medical emergencies.
Employees are trained to gather at muster points when evacuating
a building, or to use shelter-in-place locations when seeking safety
within a building.
Since emergencies aren’t planned, sometimes it isn’t obvious how
an employee should respond to an incident. This may be in the event
an employee sees a suspicious package, or if there’s an active threat
in the area. In these types of situations, emergency management
teams provide an effective first point of contact for any employee
who feels unsafe and needs to alert the appropriate employees in
their organization.
Developing the program
A useful way to develop an emergency management program is
to use an incident command system (ICS), which is the industry
standard for managing emergency response mechanisms. The ICS
system enables easy interaction with external service providers, including
the fire department, police and emergency medical services.
Using this system offers a structured approach to any emergency
that may occur, regardless of its nature.
When SRC needed to educate employees and make emergency
responses easier to remember, it provided employees with wallet
cards containing instructions of what they should do, a list of potential
scenarios and appropriate emergency contact numbers.
Challenges of implementation
One of the biggest challenges associated with implementation is increasing
employee awareness of the program. Depending on the industry
an organization operates in, employees may be located on
different work sites and in multiple locations, which makes developing
a universal program and communicating the emergency responses
difficult.
For SRC, a significant task was communicating to employees that
its emergency management team exists to respond to any event that
SRC employees take
part in AED training
is beyond the capability, training and/or comfort of employees. To
increase awareness of the program, the emergency response team
presented the program’s details to all employees, while SRC’s communications
group created an animated video, used digital signage
and placed posters around the organization with simple instructions
about using the internal emergency phone line.
Tips for establishing a program
When establishing an emergency management program, the most
critical aspect is raising awareness of it among employees. It is helpful
to use all available communication mediums to reach employees
effectively and to conduct regular training exercises to reinforce
their response skills. When emergency drills are conducted, they reveal
any areas where additional planning and work are needed.
Emergency management programs enable organizations and
their employees to learn the appropriate skills for responding to
unsafe situations. In particular, the philosophy of SRC’s emergency
management program is knowing when it’s necessary to involve
others if an emergency is beyond an employee’s training and control.
At the end of the day, all employees should feel safe and prepared
to respond to emergencies.
SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
Depending on the industry
an organization operates in,
employees may be located
on different work sites and
in multiple locations, which
makes developing a universal
program and communicating the
emergency responses difficult.
46 Think BIG | Quarter 3 2018 | saskheavy.ca
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