Page 30 - Occupational Health & Safety, December 2017

FIRE & EMERGENCY
The Value of Realistically Testing Your ERP
Warning! This is a test. This is a test of the Emergency Response Plan.
BY CHRIS KOESTER
event of a real emergency.
2. There is no “off the shelf” realistic plant- wide drill.
Each facility has its own emergency response spe- cifics, as well as geographical area of Mother Nature disasters. When planning your plant-wide drills, write drills that test the different type of events that can happen at your facility: chemical release or spill, fire, explosion, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, workplace violence, high-angle/confined space rescue, etc. Often drill writers try to include too many emergency types in the drill, making it unrealistic. Including several of these in one drill is not a good idea; instead, pick the top three to five that are most likely to happen at your facility and plan a drill on one of those first.
3. A realistic plant-wide drill should average two to four hours.
Many times, companies conduct plant-wide drills that are over in 30 minutes to an hour. A plant-wide drill does not mean you have to stop plant produc- tion for two to four hours. For example, let’s say your drill is a tornado; once everyone rallies at the tornado shelter and an accountability call is completed by your ERT, the employees not involved in the rest of the drill can go back to work. They may be involved for only 15 to 30 minutes of the drill. And you will keep certain employees in place to run the plant while the drill is in process so production time is not lost.
4. Emergency response drills need to be facili- tated with realistic timelines.
Drill facilitators and evaluators should be in the plant in the Incident Command post and in the Emer- gency Operations Center (crisis management team area). These facilitators will give their inputs (details) of the scenario to the different teams involved. The facilitators in the Incident Command post and EOC will follow the drill script and give input as necessary according to the timeline of the drill script, such as when EMS, fire, and/or police have arrivedm as well as other pertinent information.
Many drills require the ERT team to locate the injured (patients), treat their injuries, and, if needed, prepare the patients to be transported by ambulance. Because the incident is mocked, the facilitators have to communicate the scenario to the ERT and describe what they are seeing in terms of the emergency (fire, chemical spill, tornado, etc.) and report the number of patients. Once they start treating the patients, they need to relay details to the ERT—what is wrong with the patient, their vitals, and all other pertinent infor- mation that may be needed to make the incident as realistic as possible.
Weather radios are a common household item in my neck of the woods. I live in “tornado alley” and, every Wednesday, the National Weather Service conducts a test of the Emergency Broadcast System to ensure the alert system is working properly and ready for a real emergency. When Midwesterners hear the broad- cast, “This is a test. This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System,” we understand the importance of testing and retesting; perhaps you remember the EF5 rated tornado that demolished Joplin, Mo., in 2011.
1. When was the last time your Emergency Re- sponse Plan (ERP) was tested?
While it is not feasible to conduct a test weekly like the National Weather Service, testing your ERP should be scheduled annually at a minimum. There are many components to an ERP, so you will want to make sure your test includes a quality plant-wide drill that evaluates your plan, your emergency response team (ERT), your crisis management team (CMT), and the NIMS/ICS system.
Most Emergency Response Plans read well on paper but have gaps that typically come to light only when a plant-wide drill is conducted to test the plan. To identify and measure the gaps in your ERP, the drill must be as real as possible. Planning, coordi- nating, and facilitating a realistic plant-wide drill en- ables you to address any issues and make improve- ments or changes to the plan. The results of annual testing will help you ensure that your employees, contractors, and your community are kept safe in the
26 Occupational Health & Safety | DECEMBER 2017
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