You know the old joke about the guy in New York City who's lost and turns to a police officer to ask: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

The officer's response: "Practice, practice, practice."

The same principles apply to emergency evacuation. How do we safely get out of a building?

Answer: Practice, practice, practice.

The Importance of Practice

Anyone who has been in a hotel room in the past several years has doubtlessly seen the signs in the halls, rooms and stairwells giving directions for evacuation in the event of a fire.

Still, when an actual fire happens, it seems that there are always people trapped inside who can't evacuate. It seems that signs aren't enough to ensure effective evacuation in emergencies. There also has to be practice. To put it another way, just looking at the sheet music doesn't get you to Carnegie Hall.

Keep It Visible and Simple

Whether we're at work, home or a hotel, we need an evacuation plan. (In addition, OSHA - 1910.38 requires a plan.) But having a plan and being able to put it into action are two different things. We can't make safety engineers out of everyone. So the plan must be easy to understand and activate. And all workers must be aware of a safe exit strategy. High priority in your evacuation plan must be given to knowing who does what in the event of an emergency.

When you're drawing up or reevaluating the evacuation portion of your emergency response plan, be sure your workers are clear on these 6 main points:

Point 1: When to Evacuate

Workers need to know the answers to these questions:

Your evacuation drills should provide answers to these questions - before the emergency actually happens - so that everyone knows how to proceed.

Point 2: How to Evacuate

If workers don't know how to evacuate, there will be chaos and possibly injuries and fatalities. Because you don't have time to give individual instructions during an emergency, the only thing you can do is provide them before the emergency. Simply posting your plan throughout the facility isn't enough to familiarize workers with the terms of the evacuation plan. So, evacuation drills are the key to safety.

Point 3: Who Does What

Most companies are organized by departments. Each department should establish its own emergency response team. Team members should be assigned specific responsibilities and trained to respond to the emergency. Training is paramount and, once again, practice is key to training. Team drills are the best way to ensure that members are able to take up their roles in an emergency without a moment's hesitation. Team drills also help everybody feel like an important part of the emergency response team and evacuation plan.

Point 4: Fire Response

What should workers do if they see fire? Attempt to extinguish the blaze? Call the fire department? Guidelines cannot be issued at the time of crisis. You must have a plan formulated ahead of time and transmitted to everyone. And training must take place. Otherwise you never know how workers will react.

Point 5: Fire Extinguisher Usage

Everyone needs to understand that different style extinguishers are needed for different types of fires. OSHA - 1910.157 specifies the minimum number of fire extinguishers required in a workplace, and the maximum distance one should have to travel to obtain an extinguisher. Of course, a fire extinguisher won't help unless it works. So someone needs to be responsible for periodic inspections. The inspection should be performed at least once a month, and by a professional once a year. Again, training is important. Be sure your workers know not only which fire extinguisher to use, but how to use it.

Point 6: Handling Injuries or Illness

When preparing your evacuation plan, address how workers are to respond to injuries or sudden illness. Do they call the paramedics? Is there someone on the emergency response team with the experience and training appropriate to respond to emergency situations as they arise? If so, do workers know who this person is and how to contact him/her?

Re-evaluation

Once your evacuation plan is in place, remember, it's not carved in stone. Your plan will change as the workplace changes, as the building changes and as personnel move between departments or leave. Re-evaluate your plan at least every six months.

Conclusion

If we are serious about the safety of our employees and the protection of equipment and facility, it is necessary that everybody knows their responsibilities. The only way that can happen is for everyone to participate in regular drills. To make them more realistic, drills should be unannounced. Each department should practice emergency drills at least once per year. But more is always better. The more often you practice, the better the chances you and your employees will get out of an emergency alive.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
And Our Schools

By Catherine Jones

September is the fourth annual National Preparedness Month in the United States. (In Canada, Emergency Preparedness Week is in May.)

Sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security, the awareness campaign is designed to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare themselves for emergencies - whether at work, home or school. This year, each week will focus on a different area of emergency preparedness:

To help your workers address the many safety topics relevant to schools, we are again offering our school safety poster, complete with a pass/fail checklist. The poster - which can be downloaded from our Tools section - covers many school safety topics, such as security, bullying and emergency preparedness.

5 Things Every Parent Should Know

When preparing for emergencies, parents must answer these 5 essential questions:

For more information on National Preparedness Month, visit its website at: http://www.ready.gov/america/npm07/index.html and the Canadian counterpart at http://www.getprepared.ca/risks/risks_e.asp.

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