Emergency Plans 2

To stay in business after disaster strikes requires careful pre-planning, you will not be able to sort things out on the day. To overcome a disaster, and the spiral of impact which will follow, requires a plan.A small business can often make do with a plan written on one piece of paper but larger or more complex organisations will have more comprehensive arrangements. There is no universal solution. All organisations, however big or small, will need to go through the same basic process to produce their plan.

To most companies the principal non-natural threats are from fire, burglary, vandalism or terrorist action. Serious storms, floods or water escape from other sources can also have a major impact, especially if premises are in low-lying land near a river and important equipment, machinery or computers are sited on the lower floors.

By not planning to deal with such threats, businesses, staff and shareholders are exposed to quite unnecessary risks. Planning makes a substantial difference to the possibility of surviving an incident. Indeed, any organisation which undertakes a logical, structured view of the threats facing it and then works out how to respond to them has already reduced the impact if disaster strikes.

If the company also trains and exercises staff in implementing the plan, it has an excellent chance of surviving the disaster and recovering.

Having made a comprehensive survey of your premises and organisation, and taken action to correct any weaknesses found, the next step is to start to plan how you would respond should an incident occur. This plan is essential so that in an emergency you have a good idea of what you will do in the early stages of recovery. All experience tells us that what we do in the first few hours dictates just how well we will survive.

Disaster plans
While it is impossible to predict every kind of possible incident that may threaten a company, it is relatively easy to establish a basic plan which can be implemented to cover a wide range of possible emergencies.

The basic principle of any emergency plan is that it will provide a framework for an organisation to fall back on in a crisis, whether foreseen or unforeseen. Developing a shelf full of plans for specific emergencies and nothing more, runs the risk that the emergency which does occur is the one that was not foreseen, or the effect that the specific plans are of limited assistance or even rendered useless.

The starting point must be the development of flexible management arrangements for handling a crisis, whatever its cause. It therefore follows that the crisis management arrangements should align with normal management arrangements, not least because routine activities will have to be maintained while the emergency is handled.

This integration of routine and emergency plans and procedures embraces a number of concepts, all of which need to be amalgamated in your organisation if they are to be truly effective. There are four main areas where this integration must take place:

• First, the principle emphasis in the development of any plan must be on the correct response to the incident and not to the cause of the incident. (Although this principle would not prevent an organisation developing a fire team which could start to fight a fire while other employees are initiating a salvage plan.) The plan has to be flexible; it has to work on bank holiday weekends or in freezing weather conditions. It has to be clearly written and easily understood. All involved must clearly understand the part they have to play. It will need to be regularly tested against specific circumstances. This will require an assessment of the hazards faced by your organisation and consideration of the adequacy of the planned response in each case.

• Second, any emergency management arrangements must be integrated into your company’s structure. Emergency plans must build on routine arrangements and it is therefore essential for those who will be required to respond to any emergency to be involved in the planning process. This sounds like commonsense. However all too often independent groups develop plans for organisations which are only dusted off after the incident has occurred, by which time it is too late and that absolutely crucial immediate response is less than effective.

• Third, The integration of the activities of different departments within your organisation. The overall response to a crisis will invariably need input from a number of different departments. Effective planning must integrate these contributions in order to achieve an effective and timely response to an incident. Not to be aware of the contribution to be made by other sections within a company is a recipe for a muddled response.

• Fourth, the vital need for you to look over the wall and coordinate arrangements with your neighbours and other authorities who might become involved (such as the police or fire brigade). It is obvious that to achieve a truly coordinated and effective response, you and you neighbours must know each others’ capabilities, such as the use of each others’ emergency equipment, temporary secure storage and so on.

Before finally starting to draft your plan you should define the functions which are critical to or irreplaceable in the continuity of your business, for example, information on computer systems such as customer details, current order book information, supplier information, staff information, specialist tools and stock, manufacturing drawings, legal documents and so on. You will also need to identify the minimum staff needed to maintain a service to your customers whilst recovery from disaster is under way. Finally, you will need to define the length of time you can afford for recovery to take place, as this will shape your recovery plan, determining for example, whether or not relocation of part or all of your facilities is needed.

Remember to keep a copy of the plan and its associated documents, suck as lists of telephone numbers, off the site to which it refers.

Although all plans are different they will all have a number of features in common. The following paragraphs will serve to act as an aide-memoire and will also be useful as a skeleton to help you if you have to draft a plan from first principles.

The emergency plan

The introduction to the plan should cover these points:

The clear purpose of the plan, bearing in mind that it is better to allocate a definite time frame for the recovery of critical functions than to relay on a general statement of intent.
A clear statement of support by senior management.
A description of the premises, facilities and operations covered by the plan and an outline of activities or processes carried out on the premises.
The main hazards faced by the business and the effect these hazards could have on the business.
The structure of the team(s) who are responsible for
managing the recovery.

Team leaders should be nominated and each member, and in bigger organisations a nominated deputy, will normally have an identified function such as facilities, information technology (IT), rescue or pre-designated items of value, supplies, public relations (PR) and so on.

Implementation of the plan

It must be clear when emergency plans are to be implemented and who has the authority to implement them. This authority is not necessarily related to seniority or status. Often the decision to put emergency procedures into effect will have to be taken outside normal working hours. If a fire occurs at 0300 hr on a Sunday morning security personnel should not have to ring up the chief executive to seek permission to call out the fire brigade! Thus the plan must clearly indicate under what circumstances it should be implemented. Key points for inclusion here are:

When and how to implement the plan,
The persons responsible for initiating its implementation,
The delegation of authority for specific functions, e.g. removal of specified items to a pre-planned place of safety or calling out pre-arranged specialist support,
Call out lists of key personnel, which must of course be kept up up to date,
The designation of either an on-site office or an on-site incident centre, such as a hotel or other business, with appropriate communication facilities (telephones, fax etc) to act as a focus for the management of the response to a disaster and recovery from it.

Call out and check-off lists
Call out lists, giving names, positions in the organisation and contact telephone numbers, form a key part of all plans and are critical to their success, particularly during the crucial early stages of the response. It is essential that such lists are updated regularly, at least monthly. Those individuals with key roles to play, such as members of the recovery teams, should be supplied with simple check-off cards of the actions they must take on being told of the incident. These cards should be readily available at all times – in cars, at home and in the office. Taking the correct action during the early stages of the response is absolutely crucial, and check-off cards can usefully list the actions which you would expect to be taken in, say, the first three hours of the response, the next 12hours etc.

Salvage and damage control
The plan should set out the means and resources to be used to minimise damage to the premises and equipment. It should specify the location of salvage equipment and detail the names and telephone numbers of those trained in its use. Details of possible sources of assistance should be included, for example:

experts in the salvage of documents and computer data,
smoke residue removal experts,
plant hire contractors for pumps, generators or heating equipment,
experts in decontamination (if appropriate),
points of contact for all the utilities (gas, electricity, telephones, water) and local authority engineering services,
points of contact for any national authorities which might be involved such as the National Rivers Authority if rivers might be polluted as a result of the incident,
transport and removal companies,
building contractors, architects and structural engineers,
insurers or brokers as appropriate.

First aid fire fighting methods can be extremely effective if executed early, but misuse of extinguishers and other equipment can cause great harm and put people at risk; for example, use of the wrong type of extinguisher on an electrical fire. In larger buildings or complexes serious consideration should be given to the formation of ‘in- house’ fire teams and damage control squads. Trained employees can be mobilised rapidly on the sounding of the fire alarm to extinguish or contain a small fire before the fire brigade arrives. They can also check that the evacuation of the building is complete and that all the doors have been closed to minimise the rate of fire spread. The fire brigade should be consulted about the setting up of these teams and can give advise on training. (Some brigades will actually undertake training.) The fire brigade also need to be aware of any formal arrangements that may result in employees continuing to work inside a building after part of it has been evacuated.

The information available for salvage and damage control teams (staff, volunteers or fire brigade) should include separate cards for each room including lists, in priority order, for items to be removed or protected, particularly those items which are irreplaceable, such as works of art. It may be appropriate for the cards to include relevant photographs of specific items. Members of fire teams and salvage squads should be volunteers and must be physically fit. Employers’ liability insurance should be checked to ensure that it coves such activities.
Specialist advice should be sought in dealing with water-damaged records and files. This should be done without delay as combustion products can be highly acidic and therefore, very corrosive. As an emergency measure, certain valuable items (such as books, but not photographs) can be frozen in commercial freezers. This will arrest further damage until skilled assistance can be obtained.

It should be remembered that work in and around damaged building poses very special problems and can be dangerous.

In most urban areas specialist salvage firms are available and larger organisations may wish to enter into some form of contract with one of these companies.

Evacuation
If a fire is reported, an immediate evacuation should be undertaken. Occupants should leave the affected building and report to a pre-determined assembly point and the fire brigade called. Fire wardens or floor marshals should ensure that all parts of the building have been evacuated and the senior warden must advise the first fire brigade officer whether or not all persons are accounted for.

There will also be occasions when evacuation of premises may be required, such as in the case of the threat of a fire spreading from neighbouring property or as a result of threatened flooding. Conversely, it may be necessary to keep everyone in a particular building whilst a problem is resolved, such as a bomb threat where the location of the bomb is uncertain.

Particular points to bear in mind for an evacuation plan are:

identification of the people who are authorised to initiate the
evacuation plan,
designated sites where evacuated personnel are to muster,
designated personnel to be the focus at each evacuation site,
designated tasks for individuals if they can undertake them safely prior to evacuation, for example:
* turning off utilities,
* taking custody of certain items,
* maintaining the security of the premises,
transfer of telephone callers to pre-designated locations,
provision of a focal point for contact by the emergency services and others.

If there is a need to contain people in a building, particularly in the event of an external bomb threat, plans must be prepared for this and should include:

designation of a safe area where people should congregate, away from the danger of flying glass,
provision of telephone facilities in the safe area,
availability of toilet facilities and drinking water,
availability of special facilities if old people, children or animals may be involved.

If a bomb attack or terrorist threat is considered likely then two excellent sources of advise can be found in the Home Office publication Protecting People and Property and in the Fire Protection Association data sheet Guidance for the Protection of Premises Against Terrorist Attack.

Relocation
This part of the plan should cover the arrangements which may be needed if the business has to be relocated to other premises. It should include any pre-planning undertaken in acquiring an alternate location as well as details of sources of assistance which may be needed (for example, contacts with estate agents, property companies and local authorities).

Communications
It is essential that the organisation communicates its plans speedily and effectively to all those with whom it does business, for example:

employees (who will need to be told what to do),
neighbouring premises (including homes and housing),
local authorities, including enforcement bodies,
customers or clients,
suppliers,
shareholders, the stock market and banks,
the media (radio, television and newspapers).

The plan will have to cover not only emergency communications for the immediate aftermath of the disaster (radios and cellular telephones – but it should be noted that in the event of a geographically widespread emergency such as flood, the cell phone system may be overloaded and service will be cut-off to protect the equipment from damage), but also longer term measures, for example having telephone calls diverted to alternate locations, possibly run by a specialist contractor, or diversion of mail to pre-designated premises.

Key points to include in the plan are:

internal and external communications,
locations of existing facilities,
sources of supply for additional cellular telephones or two-way radios,
control of radio communications,
telephone procedures and duties of switchboard operators,
assignment of diary/log keepers to ensure proper records of messages and decisions, particularly important for any form of future enquiry,
the manner in which messages are to be fed to the media.

Remember also that the media can be swiftly at the scene, reporting what they see to the local community as the incident unfolds. This can create many worried families and so plans must include arrangements for notifying next-of-kin about what has happened. Plans are also needed to ensure that non-involved staff are kept informed and are told about any changes which may affect them.

Other support services
All plans will need to allow for the provision of specialist support and services.
These will include such things as:

data protection and recovery arrangements, for example:
procedures for back-up and off-site storage,
mutual aid for running programs,
sources of replacement equipment and software,
details and data relating to customers and suppliers,
precautions relating to key plant or equipment, such as:
listing their types and specifications,
planning methods of protection or replacement.
Stockpiling or sources of spares or components,
availability of transport,
forecast of needs,
designation of alternate sites for operations,
manpower and personnel, for example,
details of key staff (additional or secondary skills),
in-house fire and salvage teams,
sources of external assistance and mutual aid,
security concerns, for example,
site protection (including gates and perimeter),
reception of emergency services,
assigned rendezvous points,
management of the media and other visitors,
support from local police.

There may be other factors special to your business, and these will become apparent during training sessions and exercises.

Senior management support and endorsement
The completed plan must be seen to have support at the highest level and a clear statement to this effect must be placed at the beginning of the plan. Without Board or similar support few line managers will respond enthusiastically to the diversion of resources, which is implicit in developing contingency plans and training to implement them.

After the incident
The first few minutes following an incident such as fire, flood or explosion are the most significant and any action (or inaction) at this stage can have far-reaching consequences. Just as the correct first aid applied in the immediate aftermath of an accident injury can save life and promote rapid recovery, so too the correct response can ensure that the effects of an incident are minimised.

Disasters usually cause trauma and stress and long-term psychological support may be needed, particularly if there have been fatalities. This needs to be borne in mind as people recover from the effects of the incident.

After the incident, access to the site may be restricted by considerations of structural integrity or for the investigation of the cause of the incident. The structural integrity of the building or its remains must be established as a first priority by specialist advisers and any stabilising measures carried out before other activities can take place on site. If the incident may be the result of a crime the police will require the scene to be persevered whilst evidence is gathered, and this can take hours or days.

A selection of salvage equipment should be kept on premises, for example waterproof sheets, squeegees, shovels, ladders, ropes, brooms, hard hats, gloves, emergency lighting equipment, heavy-duty plastic sacks and plastic sheeting.

Specialist personnel will bring their own equipment if they are invited to assist. The plan should include some or all of the following:

damaged roofs should be covered with tarpaulins in order to minimise subsequent rainwater damage,
appropriate warning signs and barriers should be erected,
as far as possible, residual water should be removed using squeegees, cloths and suction equipment. Lift shafts and other sumps will have to be pumped out,
additional personnel may be needed to assist with salvage, particularly during weekends and holiday periods,
consideration should be given to the need to plan a suitable, secure storage space for salvaged materials,
to remove the smoke odour it may be necessary to use a process in which a deodorising liquid is passed through electrically driven sprayers,
used fire extinguishers should be recharged,
hose reels should be wiped clean and rewound,
alarm systems should be reinstated,
premises should be safeguarded against theft, broken windows should be boarded up and broken doors should be repaired and padlocked,
the premises may require a manned guarding service.

Public relations
The public relations part of the plan has to cover a wide range of activities. This will be crucial if the cause of the disaster can be attributable in any way to an act or omission of the organisation.

Poor handling of the media has led to the destruction of companies. Skilful handling of the media can go a long way to defusing potentially hostile comment. The fact that a company has clearly taken great care to plan properly will result in less aggressive handling of the incident by the media.

Key points to note are:

the nomination of official spokespersons,
contact lists of journalists and radio/television stations,
access to specialist facilities, for example, telephone answering services which may need to be employed in cases of product contamination,
pre-prepared background facts on the organisation, functions, safety record, personalities etc.

Training and exercises
One of the most common failings in contingency planning is to prepare detailed plans and then sit back and assume that if the unthinkable does happen everything will be all right. This is a most dangerous and deceptive illusion. A paper plan on its own is worth considerably less than the effort that went into drafting it.

Training of all those who have a role in the plan is essential. This should begin with formalised sessions covering the contents and purposes of the plan until all those involved are familiar with the details. It is then appropriate to hold limited-scale exercises with individuals and groups. Once this has been achieved, at least one full-scale exercise should be held at least every two years, and this could involve the emergency services so that, in the event of a real disaster, they are familiar with your premises and you are familiar with the way they work.

Revision of plans
Another deceptive and dangerous assumption is the idea that once a plan is written it is complete. Plans require constant reappraisal and revision as flaws and omissions in the plan will always be revealed during exercises. At the same time, changes in organisational structure necessitate regular revision and updating of the plan and, of course, more training.

Liaison with the emergency services
It is important to talk to the appropriate officers of the emergency services before they are needed. In the case of very large premises or where dangerous materials are stored, it is almost certain that the police and fire service will already have emergency plans to deal with incidents because of statutory requirements. For smaller organisations it is important to ensure that the company disaster plan dovetails with emergency service arrangements.

Risk management and insurance concerns

It has been traditional to rely upon the existence of insurance to deal with problems that occur. Given sufficient insurance cover, the insurers (and the adjusters appointed by them) will see that the financial compensation is fair. However, both insurers and losers: the insurer finds that losses are mounting and the insured finds that premiums rise to pay for them.

Insurers and brokers are all able to give advise on how losses may be minimised and in some cases discounts may be available where insurers consider that their exposures have been improved by the implementation of risk reduction measures. This is particularly true for cover against terrorist attack.

Not all losses can be compensated for by insurance. Although cover against consequential loss can be purchased, what of the customer who either gets no reply from his or her telephone call or finds that the line is out of order in the days following the disaster? What he or she may do is approach a competitor; he or she may be lost to the business for-ever. What happens to good trained staff dispensed with temporarily and snapped up by competitors?
Even more relevant in many cases is what happens on the morning after the disaster? Staff are left surveying the wreckage, delivery vans are turned away and no one seems to know what to do or who is in charge.

It is in the interested of the insurer, the insured company and its staff to plan in advance so that the business is seen to be coping in the face of adversity and so that confidence in the company is maintained.

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