Top Ten Procedures and Preparations for Emergency Response Planning and Implementation
All industrial facilities should have an emergency response plan. Here are ten tips for establishing and implementing an emergency response plan.
1. Establish a well-defined Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
* Check ERP to ensure compliance with regulations and standards
* Involve various plant disciplines in the ERP such as operations, management, medical, industrial, hygiene, safety, environmental
* Take recommendations for improvements from various plant sectors
2. Ensure the company personnel are familiarized and trained to carry out the ERP
* Perform fire drills and run simulated release scenarios
3. Update the ERP in response to changes in operations, state and federal regulations, etc.
4. Coordinate and plan post-incident investigation
* Evaluate system policies and the effects of spoliation issues
* Review electronic security and policies
* Appropriate use of attorney-client privilege
5. Stress importance of proper report-writing technique
* All observations and conclusions should be factual
* Committee opinions and beliefs based on circumstantial evidence should not be stated
* Recommendations should be limited to those which have a direct bearing on the incident in question
* All documents and emails are most likely discoverable and may be used in court
6. Update management on facility maintenance and operational safety procedures
* Train employees on writing reports and keeping accurate files
* Install professional systems and a safety audit
7. Establish accurate procedures for communication with state
and federal authorities
* Review calculations and reporting procedure - Peer review system
* Library of materials for calculations
* Emphasize wording and language of report
* Train personnel on importance of accurate documentation
8. Establish effective and accurate lines of communication with community
* Identify and train spokespeople
* Establish lines of communication with security personnel
* Review community alert systems and warning system for neighboring plants
* Retain media consultant
9. Mitigate severe health consequences immediately
* Have an on-site toxicologist / industrial hygienist
* Review and audit MSDS's
* Train emergency responders and update plant medical personnel
10. Install chemical monitoring equipment; map and trace hazardous concentration of released chemicals
* Pre-mapped demographic information of surrounding area
* Procedure for obtaining meteorological data
* Pre-established monitoring points correlated to meteorological data
* Plan for necessary monitoring equipment/acquisition of data