Disasters and accidents always come when you least expect them. It is not possible to predict potential disasters and accidents. But it does not mean that you cannot protect the people and property in case of an emergency. There can be a lot of potential hazards lurking around in the workplace and it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the workplace. The safety of all the people in the workplace is the employer’s responsibility.
It is important that a workplace has an emergency response plan. Here are a few tips that can help in creating a good and effective emergency plan.
Identifying the Objectives:
You cannot devise a safety plan if you are not aware of the objectives. A plan is based on the objectives so the first step is to be clear about the objectives so that you can create a plan that is perfect for the workplace. The objectives should include hazard prevention, deterrence, regulatory compliance, emergency response, risk mitigation and continuity of the business.
Performing the Risk Assessment:
To make sure that there are no workplace hazards that can hurt the employees or damage the property. It is important that you identify all the hazards so that you can take proper precautions. The risk assessment is integral in identifying the hazards and coming up with the best solutions. Getting electric safety, gas safety or an emergency lighting certificate can offer you the risk assessment you need along with the possible solutions.
Identifying Response Resources:
Before you start investing in safety equipment you need to take a look at the available response resources. It will give you guidance about the things that you need to buy to ensure the safety of workplace. The people, equipment, and systems available in the facility are the resources you need to consider. There are external resources that you need to consider as well. Once you are aware of all the resources available, you can start thinking about resources that you need to invest in.
Creating an Incident Management Team:
If you want to make the workplace safe for the employees then it is important that you have people that are constantly on the lookout for potential hazards and maintain the safety systems. A workplace needs to have an incident management team that has a proper response plan and training to handle the potential hazards. The team needs to have proper communication between the members and external responders.
Establishing a Hazard-Specific Response:
It is important that you have a specific plan for every hazard. It will make sure that the people in the workplace are safe. They need to be prepared for every possible hazard that a workplace can face. Hazard-specific information should be a part of the response plan.
Emergency Response Training:
The emergency response plan is useless if the concerned people are not aware of it. Every single person in the workplace should be well aware of the safety plan and trained to follow it. The workplace should carry out drills and exercises so that all the concerned people are trained and you can know the effectiveness of the plan.
