Leadership: The Essence of Facility and Community Emergency Preparedness
By Vincent Bove, CPP

On February 23, 2006, the White House released its review of the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina identifying deficiencies which underscores that America can and must do better in responding to emergencies. The White House stressed that a culture of preparedness, leadership and partnership must be cultivated by the nation. A culture of preparedness, inseparable from a call to leadership, must be created that emphasizes that the entire nation shares common goals and responsibilities for homeland security. We all need to work together - individuals, communities, the private sector, faith based communities and federal, state and local governments.

In light of this call to cultivate a “culture of preparedness” through leadership and unity of effort are these insights which serve as a preliminary foundation for protecting facilities and communities.

Property managers, administrators and security directors understand the importance of emergency planning since it is critical to protection of life and the survival of an enterprise. The good news is that a well thought out emergency plan can be effective for most types of crisis situations and can save you time and money in the long run.

An emergency is any situation that can divert a facility from normal operations or production. Emergencies can be man-made, such as an act of workplace violence, terrorism, civil disturbance or fire. Or it can be an act of nature, such as a hurricane, earthquake or storm. A professionally designed emergency plan can save a company from loss of life and property, financial chaos, marketplace loss and reputation.

Since 85% of America’s vital infrastructure such as oil refineries, chemical plants, banks, and port facilities are privately owned, emergency planning must be the order of the day for any private enterprise and partnerships with local law enforcement, fire departments and government emergency preparedness managers is essential.

To begin the emergency planning process, there are several steps you should take.

• Review existing plans and procedures for their validity.
  
  
• Gain upper management involvement and support.
  
  
• Identify the facilities to be included and thoroughly understand all distinctive elements of each of them.
  
  
• Conduct a vulnerability assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the facility. Parenthetically, this aspect of emergency planning must be conducted by a certified individual associated with a reputable and licensed company that has solid references.
  
  
• Identify the facilities’ resources and their priority such as people, equipment and existing plans.
  
  
• Study the organization’s demo graphics, including key employees, home contact information and assign responsibilities.

From this information, an Emergency Planning Team should be formed to include a director and representatives of various organization disciplines such as operations, information technology, finance, customer service, auditing, risk management, labor relations and media relations. This team is critical to formulating the emergency planning specifically for your building and your industry. For an effective plan, the team should determine:

• Evacuation procedures and emergency escape route assignments
  
  
• Procedures to be followed by employees who remain to operate critical plant operations before they evacuate
  
  
• Procedures to account for all employees after an emergency evacuation has been completed
  
  
• Rescue and medical duties for those employees who are to perform them
  
  
• Means of quickly reporting fires and other emergencies to appropriate authorities
  
  
• Names or job titles of persons who can be contacted for further infor mation or explanation of duties under the plan

Your emergency plan should be centralized with effective communication procedures with numerous levels of back up. You may want to consider mutual aid agreement for sheltering when area evacuations are not feasible, trained emergency assistance employees, a media spokesperson and supporting materials such as maps and call up lists.

Although each of the aforementioned has checklists necessary for effective emergency planning, it is critical that clearly established procedures for evacuations from company buildings exist and that they are tested periodically through table top, partial scale and full scale exercises. Maps should be posted in the workplace identifying evacuation routes and shelter areas. Safety monitors should be assigned to assist with evacuations. Employees should be assembled in specific locations and accounted for.

Alternate evacuation plans should be formulated in case routes are blocked, and procedures determined to assist handicapped, visually or hearing impaired and non-English-speaking employees and visitors. The EAP director should confirm the building and area have been effectively evacuated, control distance assembly areas from the disaster scene, predetermine muster points for emergencyresponse personnel, clearly mark routes and exits with appropriate back up lighting, and oversee the shutdown and restart procedures and the vital record storage plans.

The emergency team may also consider who can authorize an evacuation, set up a missing person system, and how to best protect or critical equipment and company records.

Since New York represent’s the nation’s financial and commercial strength, it is critical that the world class companies have a dynamic partnership with law enforcement which includes on-going training. This is now expressed through“NYPD Shield” (www.nypdshield.org) which brings the many private security/law enforcement partnerships together under one umbrella and assists with threat information, briefings and emergency planning training.

This partnership of the NYPD with private facilities and the training that takes place because of it is a model of leadership, unity of effort and emergency preparedness for law enforcement, communities and facilities throughout the United States. It is an important step in our goal of preparedness, leadership and partnership for a safer New York.

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