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 When planning your emergency strategy, it is important to cover all your bases as much as possible. Delegating each task to a different person is a good way to ensure all the necessary steps will happen in a timely manner--given that each person knows and has practiced what to do. When delegating, have a backup person or two for each task in case the main agent is not there in the event of a real emergency. To get you started, here is a list of tasks that need to be addressed during an emergency: - Evacuate- Contact and liaise with authorities
-Address press
-Communicate information to employees
-Inform families
-Provide peer support
-Provide first aid, both medical and psychological
-Maintain security from building and at evacuation zone |
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Dear ,
In the course of our newsletters we have shared information regarding various issues of critical incidents. Now that we have established the importance of having a plan and revealed a number of specific issues to keep in mind throughout the planning process, we would like to share with you a more general overview of what a critical incident plan entails. This month's newsletter is the first in a series of three that will address the three vital parts of a critical incident plan: preparation, response, and recovery.
At Trauma Outreach Associates, critical incident planning is our specialty. It is our pleasure to share our knowledge with you. If you would like more information on developing a custom tailored Trauma Outreach critical incident plan for your business, please feel free to browse our website, call or send us an email.
Best regards,
Vanessa & Wilma
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Planning For a Crisis
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 How have you prepared your business for a critical incident?
There is an immense amount of
forethought and consideration involved in best preparing your company
to withstand a crisis. Having an effective and efficient recovery plan
can determine your business' ability to move forward after a critical
incident. The process of planning for a critical incident at your workplace involves more than establishing an in-case-of-emergency route or routine. There is a lot of effort and recovery involved in dealing with a crisis in the moment, days, weeks or even months after. Following are some guidelines for beginning to better prepare your company for a critical incident.
1. Involve the right people
There are many aspects of critical incidents that must be dealt with in different ways. In creating a critical incident plan for your company, you will find the insight from different perspectives useful and indispensable. Consulting with HR, critical incident specialists, your company's security team, law enforcement, legal advisers, all levels of management, etc. will improve the comprehensiveness of your plan. These very important people will form the basis of your emergency response team.
2. Install the right people
There are many tasks involved in dealing with a crisis: evacuating, speaking to the press, communicating with employees, etc. Make sure you pick the appropriate person to fill each role, taking their personality, abilities and reliability into consideration. For example, the person you charge with the responsibility of evacuating all employees should be able to think clearly and remain calm in times of high stress.
3. Inform your peopleOnce your team has developed a plan and determined its main players, educating your employees about the plan and how to handle and/or prevent an emergency is the next step. It is important that your employees know the plan as well as know that your company has taken extra measures to protect them. Be sure to address issues of building security, night time safety, etc.
4. Practice your plan
Periodically practice your plan by having drills, table top exercises, or even simply holding meetings with your emergency response team and/or employees to make sure people remember what to do. In the event of an actual emergency, your company's ability to effectively exercise the plan will rely on their memory and preparedness.
Keep these steps in mind when you begin to prepare your company for a critical incident. For more detailed information on critical incident planning, please feel free to browse our recommended resources or visit our website.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this month's Trauma Talk. We hope you have found the information useful. If there are any topics you would like to see featured in a future
article of Trauma Talk, please let us know and we
will do our best to address them. We appreciate your comments, stories,
and thoughts as they will help us further refine and enrich the newsletter in
such a way to benefit you.
Until our next talk, stay healthy and take care.
Warmly,
The Trauma Team
Trauma Outreach Associates, Inc.
Phone: 415.772.9999
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In upcoming newsletters...
Response and Recovery
415.772.9999
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