A Do-It-Yourself Guide For Office Buildings Emergency Action Plans
By Jerry Strollo, CPP

I have been a Do-It-Yourself person ever since I was a kid. I fondly remember my first tool kit, a “Handy Andy” metal tool box. (I know, my age is showing). A small hammer, a little screwdriver, a tiny pliers - but armed with them, I felt I could build or fix anything. That attitude has remained with me. And you, as someone also involved in security and life safety issues, may be much the same. At home, you probably change bathroom faucet washers, patch sheetrock cracks, and even hook up your child’s computer. Let us approach developing Emergency Action Plans with a similar hands-on attitude, one you might take to any major project.

When you were purchasing that big screen, high definition TV (HDTV) that the whole family bugged you about, how did you approach it? I’ll bet you first educated yourself about the topic. You read magazine articles; did Google and Yahoo searches; read about HDTV and its features; identified what suited your needs; and what help, if any, you might need. (In reality, if we are talking among guys, we rarely ever think about that last part, the part about getting help).

After getting the new TV home, the real hands-on work started. In this case, a new technology, you actually read the instructions to learn how to make all the necessary connections for correct operation. And yes, you did need help: getting the TV into the car;
guidance through the front door; and manufacturer’s tech support to finetune the system.

Your family relied on you to get this new thing up and running properly. Well, your “work family” is relying on you in the same way to get your building’s Emergency Action Plan (EAP) up and running properly. And that is the true focus of this article.

We’ll tackle the EAP as a “DIY” project together, using much of the HDTV-type game plan. Think positive - here we go.

In response to 9/11, The City of New York enacted Local Law (LL) 26 in 2004 and it went into effect on April 6, 2006... A major section of this statute concerns planning requirements for managing non-fire emergencies in Group E office buildings. For specifics,
refer to: www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/rcny_legal/rcny_3rcny_sect _6_02.shtml.

Or check: www.EmergencyAction-Plans.com, for the statute’s full text.

As a matter of fact, every Fire Safety Director’s title changed on April 6th. The new title is Fire Safety/Emergency Action Plan (EAP) Director. If you are also the Security Director and Security and Life Safety Director, then your new title might be: Security and Life Safety/Fire Safety/Emergency Action Plan Director. For brevity, let’s refer to you as the EAP Director.

As stated, Emergency Action Plans are all about non-fire emergencies. For fire emergencies, all the personnel assignments, paperwork and systems you currently have in place, remain in place. “The existing procedures for limited evacuations in the event of a fire in a high-rise office building (evacuation of fire floor and floor above) have proven effective in protecting building occupants in ordinary circumstances. These procedures are not the subject of the rule, and remain unchanged”. (As per the LL.)

The new Local Law has three major sections that concern us:

Writing the EAP Plan

Training building staff and building tenants

Conducting EAP Drills

Writing the Plan –for eventual filing with FDNY:

The NYC Fire Department has created a format for you. (I think of it as similar to instructions for the new TV.) The FD is firm about what has to be done, but they build in leeway about how to do it. The parallel: you were not required to put the new TV in any particular room, but the manufacturer insists you connect it property to interface with your DVD, VCR, etc.

The Plan format is listed as Appendix A, can be found at the FDNY web site: www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/pdf/rcny/rcny_6_02_app_a.pdf or also at my web site: www.EmergencyActionPlans.com. For the General Procedures sections, describe the procedures you will implement for each type of emergency. Explain or provide analysis in
as much detail as you deem necessary or appropriate so the information is clear and complete.

In essence, you are telling FDNY what you are going to do and how you are going to do it in the event of a “nonfire emergency caused by explosion, biological, chemical or hazardous material incidents or releases, natural disasters or other emergency, or the threat thereof” (wording taken from the LL).

When writing out: “what you are going to do” there are 4 specific actions you can consider taking:

1. Shelter-In-Place

2. In-Building Relocation

3. Partial Evacuation

4. Full Evacuation

These constitute what the EAP training materials refer to as “evacuation concepts.”

Shelter-In-Place: is simply “stay where you are.” If your tenants are sitting at their desks, they stay at their desks until they receive further instructions from you, the EAP Director.

In-Building Relocation was originally referred to by the confusing term“invacuation” and meant you direct building tenants and visitors to leave their present locations and move to
other, safer locations, within their building. For example: move from offices with views (and lots of glass windows) to interior rooms without the danger of shattering glass. It might mean away from tall file cabinets that could fall over and cause personal injury.

Partial Evacuation, as you might expect, means having some building occupants actually leave the building, until the emergency ends or the conditions are corrected.

Full Evacuation needs no explanation: “everybody out.”

Beyond the overview, more real DIY hands-on work begins. I recommend you download all the literature and forms from the websites mentioned previously. Make sure to copy out:

Appendix A - Emergency Action Plan Format

Appendix A - Attachment 1 - EAP Staff Designation Form

Appendix A - Attachment 2 - Critical Operations Staff Designation Form

Appendix B - Office Building Information Card - p.1

Appendix B - Office Building Information Card - p.2

Appendix C - Fire Drill and Evacuation/Emergency Action Plan (EAP) Staffing Chart

EAP Wardens – The Paperwork and the Sticky Issues Beyond Paper.

This is an area where we need help. The forms ask that you to identify the building’s critical staff and the building’s EAP Wardens. This may be a bump in the road. You may be able to commandeer the current Fire Wardens and Deputy Fire Wardens assigned in your Fire Safety Plan. These volunteers will now also become EAP Wardens and Deputy EAP Wardens. If they go along, you have solved the manpower situation.

However, some may balk at the additional responsibilities. Remind them that you have a critical need for them as volunteers. Let them know they will receive additional mandated EAP training at the work site. However, the LL cannot force them to risk their lives. Consider enlisting their managers and request that managers have a conversation with the current wardens, detailing what their particular companies expect of them. Ask for help.

The EA Plan wording is very different than the Fire Safety Plan regarding EAP Wardens and Deputy Wardens. The FS Plan states …”the tenant or tenants of each floor shall … make
responsible and dependable employees available for designation by the Fire Safety Director as Fire Warden and Deputy Fire Warden.”

The EAP wording is a lot stronger. It states … “All employers of building occupants shall…assign EAPWardens, Deputy EAP Wardens and members of the Fire Safety/EAP Brigade, and require such employees to conscientiously perform their duties under the Emergency Action Plan.” Again, this is untested. To make your plan successful you will have to get buy-in from building tenants.

Floor Plans

You do not have to create new floor plans, but you must make sure that the drawings you commandeer from architects and building engineers are accurate for the facility as it is now. Floor plans must include, for each floor including those below grade, a current floor plan bearing the signature and seal of a registered architect or PE.

The floor plan must be marked to reflect exit routes, in-building relocation areas, and other information contained in the Emergency Action Plan amenable to graphic representation. Because of the high tech world we live in, (the world that allows your new TV’s 1,280 lines of resolution), your plan submission requirements mean a DVD in a specific file format. Time, patience, and your property managers and architects, will help
you get through this.

Since the file format is pre-ordained, there is no guessing about how the finished product will look. There is no guesswork about what information has to be contained in the document. Similar to assembly instructions for the HDTV: it will look “right” to the viewer when complete.

However, when setting-up your new TV you probably made all your permanent wiring connections on the rear panel: the cable or satellite connection, the VCR, the DVD, surround-sound speakers, etc. Now, as with those wiring connections, you will start making connections among your building’s components: ventilation systems, electrical and other utility operations, fuel oil, pumps, and piping will all be part of the Plan. You are tasked with writing out and explaining how all these components will interact with each other for each type of nonfire emergency. Most importantly, you will write how each of the members of the building staff, engineering and maintenance team, will handle their part of the process.

Below is an abbreviated sample EAP section for “Explosions” (assuming one without a fire).

Under the heading: “Shelter in Place”, write out what you mean by the term and the ‘actions’ that building tenants are to take. Under General Procedures, explain how you will structure and implement notifications to them, how you will proceed with follow-up notifications, how you will give all-clear announcements, etc. Reiterate that these procedures apply for explosions in or proximate to your building, or if there are threats of explosions.

Next describe how building components and systems come into play during Shelter in Place. Specificity is important. For example, what will occur with the ventilation system? Who will handle that? Who is that person’s alternate? What actions, if any, will be taken concerning open-able windows and interior doors? What actions will be taken concerning the building’s electrical, natural gas, steam and other utility operations? Use your property management team, building engineers, tenant representatives and others who will be affected by the problematic situation to be part of the planning process and to participate
in creating this documentation. Make sure it is realistic and defines procedures in clear useful terms. The final goal is to create an effective EA Plan, not just a document to submit.

This is an excellent opportunity to go over details with tenant management concerning how people will leave the building and what stairwells lead where. By defining the routes out of
the building and refreshing everyone’s memory, you help prevent surprises!

Use the same general guidelines for describing the other actions that might be taken in an explosion. However, each specific action requires specific details. In an In-Building Relocation, describe:

Designated in-building relocation areas

Designated routes by which building occupants would be directed to those in-building relocation areas

Procedures of accounting for building occupants after completing in-building relocation

During an Evacuation or Partial Evacuation you would also have to add primary and alternate exit routes and assembly areas to the information above. Of course there has to be a procedure to account for building occupants after completing evacuation.

EAP Training

EAP Directors will be required to attend an initial 7-hour training course covering: evacuation concepts, building communications and announcements, building ventilation options, the use of elevators, building occupants with special needs and related mobility and communications issues, weather-related emergencies, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), hazardous materials, failure of building utilities, mechanical systems, civil disturbances and blackouts, familiarization with incident command structure and emergency response operations, and more.

The first 7-hour segment earns you a Certificate of Completion that will eventually lead to your achieving an EAP Certificate of Fitness. Every person associated with the EAP will receive mandatory initial training and mandatory refresher training.

EAP Training materials that you create must also be distributed to building tenants. So the training takes on an extended aspect and the materials you produced with your ‘team’ become another key component of the new Rule.

EAP Drills

Hook up one big screen HDTV and you can hook-up any big screen HDTV. We all know that “practice makes perfect”. So FDNY is making EAP Drills mandatory. You will be conducting drills within the first year following your EA Plan approval. Then there is a drill schedule for every year following that initial year. Fullbuilding evacuations are not required
by the Plan. At the moment, the rules covering EAP drills state that they cannot be combined with your building fire drills.

You have lots of work ahead of you. A positive attitude and a good game plan will take you through these new tasks added to your already overflowing plate. And, of course, you can always call on me for answers to questions or to help with the entire project!

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