A building collapse in Philadelphia early Wednesday serves as a reminder that disasters can happen at any moment, whether you are prepared to respond, or not.
In response to Wednesday’s collapse, which left 6 dead and more than a dozen injured, safety expert, Clifford Adkins, CEO of Med Sled, offers the following crisis management tips to help individuals and businesses be better equipped to handle a crisis.
1) Plan for the worst-case scenario. If history has taught us anything, it is that no disaster is too big or too extreme to become a reality. Both natural and, unfortunately, manmade disasters, are creating new worst-case scenarios that must be considered in evacuation planning. Emergency-planning professionals should always plan for the worst when developing evacuation plans and drills.
2) Don’t rely on the norms. Living outside tornado alley is no excuse to leave tornado drills out of your emergency action plan. When it comes to preparing for disasters, relying on what generally happens in your geographic area can leave your business vulnerable to a variety of unexpected disasters, both natural and manmade. Back to the tornado example, while almost one-fourth of all significant tornadoes occur in Tornado Alley, in recent years, a vast majority of high fatality tornadoes have occurred in areas such as the southeastern United States where tornadoes are an especially rare. Make sure to stay informed of the types of emergencies likely to affect specific regions to ensure your organization’s readiness.
3) Ensure facilities have the equipment to support crisis plans. In large-scale evacuation scenarios, having evacuation equipment is important, but even more important is having the right equipment for your facility. This may involve partnering with a manufacturer to access your individual needs, and provide accessible and intuitive equipment and properly prepare them for the worst-case scenario. Equipment to avoid includes carry and wheeled devices; these can be dangerous for individuals in case they have to evacuate through debris-filled hallways. The best evacuation equipment needs to be non-lift, slide devices that can handle both vertical and horizontal evacuation needs.
4) Be realistic in training and drills. Having an adequate emergency plan is critical to emergency preparedness, but simply looking good on paper does your organization no good. Emergency preparedness plans are only as good as the training and drills conducted. To truly prepare for a real world emergency, you must create a chaotic environment – pipe in noise, turn off the lights, shut down the elevators – and include all individuals, including those with disabilities.
Visit www.medsled.com for more information.