Emergency Management System
Organizations in general are vulnerable to emergency situation, i.e. critical infrastructure is prone to man-made hazards. An emergency even could arise either due to fault in internal organization operations or from external sources. As a result, emergency need could range from a small first-aid incident to multiple deaths to property damage. In these cases, attempt should be mitigating impact arising due to incidents or circumstances leading to injury and illness. Therefore, planning is essential to deal with possible emergencies. Thus, the need of emergency management system arises, which is nothing but a pre-designed system to deal with hazards in the form of rescuing, restoring, and mitigating the effects.
Moreover, large-scale emergencies require well-coordinated response and management. As per OSH standard, there should be a written emergency action plan to deal with any unforeseen eventualities. Therefore, it becomes onus of the employer to review plans periodically while keeping into cognizance of employees. NIST develops tailor-made emergency management system involving:
- Identification of hazard that could lead to possible hazard
- Identification of activities to respond to emergency situation
- Introduction of risk assessment measures to control or eliminate identified risks
- Escape procedures with designated escape routes
- Procedure for shutting down critical plant operations
- Spill control procedures if any
- Search and emergency rescue procedures
- Emergency response to deal with hazardous materials
- How to provide first aid help within three to four minutes of an emergency
- Rapid deployment of resources
