So your company needs an emergency response plan...where you should start?

One only needs to turn on the news to see the importance of emergency preparedness and planning. Disease, natural disaster, workplace violence, and even acts of terrorism are horrible occurrences that can impact any area at any time. It seems at face value that there isn’t much to be done about these events- they are simply out of our control. However, while we may not be able to prevent these events from happening, the key is being prepared SHOULD they occur. One of the most important concepts in emergency management is called mitigation: taking the steps BEFORE an emergency occurs to ensure that you and your business are as prepared as possible and resilient in the face of disaster. 

Moreover, at Welsford Consulting LLC, we have seen time and time again that the lack of documented emergency preparedness and risk management is a major barrier to acquisition by larger firms. 

How can this be addressed? One of the most important documents in emergency management is the emergency response plan. This document can be called by a few different names, including: emergency preparedness plan, emergency response plan, all-hazards assessment, risk management plan, or business continuity plan. These documents are often upwards of 30 pages long, and include a thorough assessment of the hazards faced by a company, how the company can mitigate these hazards, and the plan for response should an emergency occur. 

Additionally, we recommend to our clients that they include a separate section for cybersecurity, as well as a separate section for business continuity. Cybersecurity demands its own process for hazards assessment, as well as thorough and continued engagement with your firm’s IT personnel. For help with cybersecurity planning, please refer to our cybersecurity article, or contact us at acacia@welsfordconsultingllc.com.

So now that we’ve established the importance of the emergency response plan- how do you write one?

If you live in the United States, the ultimate authority on emergency response is the federal emergency management agency or FEMA. FEMA.gov and Ready.gov have many different resources and templates on how to craft a successful emergency response plan, and are a great place to start. However, templates lack the full understanding of your business and its situation within the geographical area surrounding you, the larger supply chain, and its unique vulnerability to specific types of threats. For example, an emergency response plan we wrote for a firm that was located in Kansas needed to take into account the precise location of storm shelters within the office building, as well as a validation that tornado sirens would sound in a timely manner for employees to seek shelter. Additionally, the building’s unique risk of destruction from high winds or hail was assessed, and plans were drafted for how the business would resume operations in the face of such an event. 

In the medtech or biotech field, firms often create products that are vital to individuals with certain diseases or health conditions. For example, if a company’s main business is the creation of a medicine that is taken daily to manage symptoms from a certain chronic disease, this company is a vital part of the critical infrastructure of the larger health system. Emergency response planning isn’t just vital to preserving the continuity of your business- it also is vital to the customers that you serve.

Here is a Sample outline of an emergency response plan:

-Introduction

-describe your company’s purpose for having an emergency response plan, its scope, and its objectives in emergency response planning.

-Company Goals for Emergency Response

-we recommend a combination of high-level goals, as well as time goals such as (respond within 5 minutes, or resume office activities within 2 weeks)

-The Situation

-these are unique to your business’s location and situation

-What are the risks?

-perform a thorough risk assessment including man-made threats and natural disasters

-How can you prevent them?

-how will you prevent these hazards? If they are not preventable, how will you mitigate them?

-Emergency Plan

-detail the full emergency plan of your organization

-Regulations

-what regulations require your company to develop this emergency response plan

-How do you plan to respond to each specific threat?

- threat by threat, outline your plans for response

-Ongoing actions

-How often will you update your plan? How will you let your employees know about it?

If emergency response planning is something your business needs help with- don’t hesitate to reach out. Welsford Consulting LLC offers a wide range of EHS services including developing employee training, OSHA planning, writing Emergency Response, Cybersecurity, and Business Continuity plans, editing/reviewing/updating these plans, performing a risk assessment for your company, and much more. I’d love to meet with you and talk about how we can help! 

Email me at acacia@welsfordconsultingllc.com.