The need to construct detailed plans for emergencies has never been more apparent than in recent years. While many companies have a strategy, those forgotten plans are often in need of dusting-off
once located.

An afterthought for many years, emergency planning is now part of the scramble to prepare for a potential catastrophe that suddenly looms in the near future, and the precious time needed to prepare
is quickly dwindling away.

If the designated person in charge of initiating the plan is still with the company, the mad dash
is on to find the plans in the event of a once in a lifetime or never seen 100-year storm, as witnessed during the hurricane season of 2005.

This scenario need not be repeated, even as the nation faces the forecasters’ dire prediction that a higher than usual storm season for the Gulf and Atlantic coasts may be part of all our futures. By
planning for the chain of command during an emergency, and the running of the facility and company afterwards, loss of productivity can be reduced as the company moves forward after a man-made
event or natural disaster.

What Are the Goals?
The primary goal is to protect human lives and secure a good plan of evacuation should an event that can be planned for happen, or a sudden event like an explosion or terror attack, takes place. A review
of the facility’s emergency fire exits is something everyone should be familiar with, and evacuations must be practiced.

Next on the list of priorities is to work on a plan that meets the needs of several emergency scenarios that might happen. For instance, the U.S. airline industry found itself under great scrutiny in the
wake of crashes, criticized for its inability to disseminate vital information to relatives and to deal with the overwhelming grief of those arriving at the airport seeking information.

It took one tragedy after another, years of fine-tuning and legislation to bring about change. The airlines now have a model emergency response program.

Most recently, the images of prayer vigils and sorrow as families seek information on trapped miners comes to mind as rescue plans are anything but adequate and information is misleading at best. In response to this, the MINER (Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response) Act just became law.

The new law now requires as a top priority that “each underground coal mine develop and continuously update a written emergency response plan.”

Working Together
The beginning of the process is not a difficult one. Most facility owners and companies are familiar with the mandated requirements under OSHA that if there are more than 10 employees, an emergency
response plan is required. Sometimes, but not always, this plan is slapped together to meet the requirement.

Companies located in harm’s way either by location or line of work will realize the necessity of a plan.
A review is necessary to determine what areas of improvement are needed in an effective organizational plan. Plans need to be comprehensive enough to deal with all types of emergencies. GSA has worked with organizations at all levels to improve training. It all begins with a commitment on management’s part to move forward.

Training takes place on two levels: the physical understanding and the mental preparedness to deal with emergencies.

It is crucial that each and everyone understand their role and responsibility in the event of the emergency plan being activated.

Management’s initial task is to send out a clear message to the company through written announcements what will be taking place and the goals of every employee during the process. It is important everyone understand the reasons this is being done as a good plan will become fairly intrusive as interviews will take place to gauge the level of understanding an employee will have during an emergency.

To gain employee understanding and commitment it is important to reiterate that the key objective of the process is to ensure their own personal safety in the event of an emergency.

Communication and leadership in a crisis are key ingredients in a successful response to an emergency. Just because a CEO is a head of the company, doesn’t mean this person will be the most effective at carrying out the leadership role of an emergency plan. During the interview process, decisions will be made on who best fits this role.

Priorities
The important steps needing to be taken should address the following:
1. Life Safety; the safety and well-being of all employees and visitors/clients to the site.
2. Company Assets; what are the assets that need to be protected such as critical
documentation.
3. Continued Operations; depending on the type of business the business contingency plan may include a secondary site where operations would continue in the event the primary location is shut down. This may not be practical for all companies.

Prior to the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, extensive planning took place months in advance that were instituted as it became evident the storm was going to be a problem for the area
and our client. GSA had been working with a large health care facility network that had many locations throughout the Gulf Coast, Texas and Florida. And as it turned out, just about every one of
those locations had direct hits from not only Katrina but Rita and Wilma, within weeks of each other.

The goal of the emergency training and planning was to ensure the facility stayed open and operational during and after the storms. Accomplishing this meant a total review of the facility and
staff that would remain.

Part of our emergency planning included force protection with armed security patrols, a detail most facilities do not want to think about but proved to be vital in this instance as civil unrest broke out during the aftermath. Our client was very fortunate because they took the time to have a multi-layered plan and as a result had a successful outcome without any negative media coverage that other facilities experienced.

Another area manufacturing company experienced almost near destruction of its facilities in both New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss. Through advance planning the company was able to secure
portable generators and set up a remote location to continue operating its plant and business at limited capacity.

With the media’s help, in this instance, a special hotline was established to locate employees who lost everything. The company’s plan extended far beyond its own survival and included the
ongoing well being of its employees.

The company supplied long-term temporary housing and fed them along with providing a continued paycheck. As a result the company, its inventory and its workforce stayed intact. In the aftermath of any disaster there is a period of recovery. Two key issues are so often overlooked in this phase: a)
mental health assistance for employees that may have been traumatized by the incident and b) the need to conduct a debrief session to identify weaknesses in the plan and to improve on any failures
in preparation for the next potential emergency.  FSM
William McGuire president and CEO of Global Security Associates, LLC, a security and emergency preparedness services provider. Prior to forming Global Security Associates, he was assistant vice president of Virgin Security Associates in North America, a division of Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Victor Anderes, is vice president of emergency response planning services, responsible for developing programs to meet the needs of businesses and industry in advance of natural and
man-made disasters.